Rep. Gary L. Ackerman Holds a Hearing On a Regional Overview of South Asia

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Rep. Gary L. Ackerman Holds a Hearing On a Regional Overview of South Asia

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS, SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE MIDDLE EAST AND SOUTH ASIA HOLDS A HEARING ON A REGIONAL OVERVIEW OF SOUTH ASIA

JUNE 25, 2009

SPEAKERS: REP. GARY L. ACKERMAN, D-N.Y. CHAIRMAN REP. RUSS CARNAHAN, D-MO. REP. MICHAEL E. MCMAHON, D-N.Y. REP. SHEILA JACKSON LEE, D-TEXAS REP. SHELLEY BERKLEY, D-NEV. REP. JOSEPH CROWLEY, D-N.Y. REP. MIKE ROSS, D-ARK. REP. JIM COSTA, D-CALIF. REP. KEITH ELLISON, D-MINN. REP. RON KLEIN, D-FLA. REP. BRAD SHERMAN, D-CALIF. REP. ROBERT WEXLER, D-FLA. REP. ELIOT L. ENGEL, D-N.Y. REP. GERRY CONNOLLY, D-VA. REP. GENE GREEN, D-TEXAS REP. HOWARD L. BERMAN, D-CALIF. EX OFFICIO

REP. DAN BURTON, R-IND. RANKING MEMBER REP. MIKE PENCE, R-IND. REP. JOE WILSON, R-S.C. REP. J. GRESHAM BARRETT, R-S.C. REP. JEFF FORTENBERRY, R-NEB. REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL, R-TEXAS REP. BOB INGLIS, R-S.C. REP. GUS BILIRAKIS, R-FLA. REP. DANA ROHRABACHER, R-CALIF. REP. ED ROYCE, R-CALIF. REP. ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, R-FLA. EX OFFICIO

WITNESSES: ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE ROBERT BLAKE JR., BUREAU OF SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIAN AFFAIRS

[*] ACKERMAN: The meeting will come to order.

In land area, South Asia, composed of the nations of Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and the Maldives, is half the size of the United States. Literally, two, South Asia's could fit within the borders of the United States.

But, South Asia is the home to more than 1.6 billion people. And the United States just over 300 million. In India alone, there are over 2,000 ethnic groups and 22 official languages.

These facts are not a basis for policy making, but they should be a cause for concern. South Asia is a region of almost unimaginable complexity, and we come to it as strangers, as outsiders.

Unfortunately for many Americans, the region is still seen primarily through the lens of the attacks on our country on September 11th, 2001. This association is doubly tragic.

The madmen responsible for 9/11 are, of course, not from South Asia. And their true ambitions are directed towards the Arab Middle East, not the subcontinent. But, worse still, South Asia's own problems have become horribly engrossed in the struggle we face to destroy the threat of radical extremism.

Before 9/11, India and Pakistan had fought several wars and gone to the brink of war many times over. Afghanistan was a badly ravaged country, even before the Taliban took over, and before Al Qaida set up shop and began plotting the attacks on our country. Pakistan was not a stable democracy before we called upon that government to assist us in the fight against Al Qaida and the Taliban.

And, it should be recalled, before 9/11, the United States could not honestly claim that our commitment to either Afghanistan or Pakistan was sustained, deep or serious. It wasn't.

We used them, and they used us. And, we assumed their dysfunctional governments and failing economies we...

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