Though the United States has, now, finally, admitted that there are strong links between the Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence agency (a super spy agency) and the radical group Taliban, it still thinks Pakistan has to be pampered and India should also make overtures to Pakistan for establishing good relations and on-going dialogue. [They announced another massive aid to Pakistan.]

Despite the proven links between the terror outfits and their supporters the US administration keeps pouring hundreds of millions of dollars in Pakistan, as announced last week by the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on her yet another trip to Pakistan. The latest amount is $500 million dollars, ostensibly for economic development and social services, but it's well known how much goes for real development, and how much for promotion and sustenance of terror groups in Afghanistan and India. The US is committed to give $7.5 billion to Islamabad in the next five years.

US Special Representative Richard Holbrooke has tried to assure India that New Delhi's role in Afghanistan is appreciated and should continue. But the US also feels that India should recognize the crucial and pivotal rile of Pakistan in the region. Pakistan, meanwhile, continues to blackmail the US and keeps presenting its case of "more-aid-for-more-action" against terror groups.

Secondly, Pakistan does not want India's continued role in the economic and social progress of Afghanistan. There are scores of Indian projects in Afghanistan doing well despite violent acts by Afghan hardliner Taliban and their Pakistani supporters. There have been several attacks on, and killings of, Indians but the government of India has not slowed its projects.

The US agrees to keep helping Pakistan with money and military material ignoring the ground realities that the major portion of that aid is not utilized for the purpose it's given. A substantial part of American aid is diverted to keeping terror activities alive in Afghanistan and India. Despite that the US does not think of minimizing Pakistan's interest and influence in Afghanistan and diverting its energies and American aid to crushing Taliban, both in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

It's not obvious to the Americans that Pakistan's role in Afghanistan is to thwart India's attempts to help that country, to destabilize the Afghan government and to help Taliban to become more powerful. The US also forgets that it was Pakistan that created Afghan Taliban and recognized (along with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) the Talibn-run government.

It was the positive and aggressive US move that had defeated Taliban in Afghanistan and forced Pakistan to turn around and profess cooperation with the Americans. That was accomplished when George W Bush was the US President and General Musharraf had to make a U-turn, a refusal would have cost Pakistan dearly. However, since then Pakistan is playing a double game - assuring the US of its active help in the fight against terror and also to see that Pakistani Taliban and other terror groups are not totally crushed.

Top Pakistani Army leaders are reportedly aware of even the hideouts of Osama bin Laden and are in touch with Taliban and other terror groups. Al Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba and other terror groups just cannot survive without the covert help and look-the-other-way attitude of Pakistani Army, administration and the ISI. Now the American are also directly admitting that there are links between ISI and Taliban. Still Pakistan is able to blackmail America and extract all the aid it can get from Washington.

An IANS report from New Delhi confirmed last week that days after India-Pakistan talks broke down on the issue of terror, the US pointed out links between the Taliban and Pakistani spy agency, ISI, but at the same time assured India that its role in Afghanistan was "not being diminished" to the advantage of Islamabad.

Lauding New Delhi's role in the reconstruction of Afghanistan, US Special Envoy Holbrooke, also pitched for better relations between India and Pakistan and stressed that improving relations of the US with Islamabad were in New Delhi's interests.

Although Holbrooke did not spell out what gave Pakistan leverage over the evolving power equations in Afghanistan, he spoke about the links between Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Taliban, a nexus highlighted by New Delhi many a time.

"The links between the ISI and the Taliban are a problem. US has spoken to the Pakistan government and the military on ISI links with the Taliban," he told reporters in an interaction in New Delhi.

He spoke about a growing coordination among terror groups in the region, a point also made by National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon at a seminar on terrorism in South Asia when he highlighted the links between the intelligence agencies and terror groups in the region.

"Their long-term objective is to destroy the Western civilization and to create crisis between New Delhi and Islamabad," Holbrooke said when asked about the Pakistan-backed Haqqani network and Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-based militant group that allegedly plotted and executed the 2008 Mumbai carnage.

"LeT is co-equal threat along with al-Qaida. The LeT, al-Qaida and Taliban are all working closer together than ever before," he said, ruling out any reconciliation with the terrorist groups.

While acknowledging Pakistan's crucial role in the evolving situation in Afghanistan, Holbrooke said it did not detract from India's contribution in reconstruction of that country.

"India role in Afghanistan is not being diminished. It's not a zero sum game," he told reporters here when asked about India's concerns on the contentious proposal for reconciliation with the Taliban and Pakistan's growing role in the process.

"It is for India to decide what it wants its role to be in Afghanistan. US will back any efforts for better relations between India and Pakistan," Holbrooke, who flew in here from Kabul on a two-day visit, said.

India pitched for "an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned" peace and reintegration process in Afghanistan at the Kabul conference and reminded the world of the need for this process to be "inclusive and transparent."

Holbrooke assured that neither Pakistan nor the Taliban are going to take over Afghanistan.

"You can't stabilize Afghanistan without Pakistan's support as a concerned, legitimate partner," he said, but added in the same breath, "India has a major role to play in stability in the region and in search for solutions in Afghanistan."

Referring to the recent meeting between US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna in Kabul, Holbrooke said Clinton conveyed the need for India to improve relations with Pakistan.

The envoy tried to assuage concerns in India about the growing relationship of the US with Pakistan in the wake of the Taliban reintegration and reconciliation plan in Afghanistan.

"Our goal is to improve relations with Pakistan," he said.

"The truth is that the US has better relations with India and Pakistan than the two countries have with each other. It's in the interest of both countries."