The upside of restraint

Nothing is more human than the desire for aggressive vengeance. As the Financial Times' astute writer Gideon Rachman notes, there is a downside as it relates to India's response to the Mumbai attacks:

[T]he "war on terrorism" will not be won by killing terrorists. That was certainly the view of most of the Indian politicians and security experts that I spoke to last September. They were sceptical about US strikes inside Pakistan and advanced the usual arguments. Bombing suspected terrorist bases was bound to cause civilian casualties. That would only bring fresh recruits for the jihadist cause. The received opinion in Delhi, at the time, was that the problem was still best dealt with by Pakistan.

Ironically, the Indians are now under huge pressure to emulate the US tactics that they were criticising. Some sort of Indian military response to the Mumbai horrors may be unavoidable. But the Indians should hang on to their restraint as far as possible.

A military confrontation between India and Pakistan - two nuclear-armed neighbours - would obviously be extremely dangerous. A confrontation with India would also strengthen all the most sinister forces in Pakistan - the Islamists and the elements in the security establishment that back them.

Having said that, I exhorted my mother, who's still in Islamabad, to get back to the States soon. The political black hole in South Asia is pulsing more menacingly than ever.