New Delhi: Top American strategic expert Ashley Tellis says Uncle Sam doesn't have double standards in the war on terror.
But he won't say if US President George W Bush will support an Indian military response against Pakistan -- like he has Israel's strikes in West Asia.
"I can't say if Bush will support India, but I do think he would want to know the precise contours of India's response," says Tellis, the Bombay-born US academic who helped the Bush administration craft the Indo-US nuclear deal.
He is a Senior Associate at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, an influential American thinktank. His is an influential voice in Washington on international security and Asian strategic issues and he has some definitive opinions on Indian and American policies on Pakistan.
Tellis believes that Manmohan Singh has taken the right approach in his war against terror. Unlike the Hamas or the Hezbollah, a nuclear Pakistan can inflict severe pain.
"Taking out camps would not be the last action. It would be an intermediate action en route to something else," he adds.
Tellis says Bush would want to determine if an Indian strike is sensible, justified, proportionate and effective and that the President is well aware that Pakistan is both a problem and solution in the war against terror.
He's known to be influential with the the Bush administration, serving in the state department as an advisor until recently. Tellis admits that Bush needs Musharraf in his war on terror in Afghanistan. But he also says that Washington is worried about the increasing American and Nato casualties in Afghanistan.
Bush repeatedly talks about promoting democracy in Pakistan and Tellis advises that is the strategy the international community should utilise to deal with Pakistan.
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