Clarity is required in Washington

The White House is failing to control the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan thanks to its duplicitous policies. Washington's lack of a clear long-term vision is alienating friends.

Despite the atmospherics on the ground looking positive the US' strategic relationship with India is becoming less relevant on basic security issues that revolve around the Afghanistan-Pakistan solution.

The terrorists have moved out of the tribal areas: seven consecutive blasts in a day in Lahore which borders India being a recent, chilling, example.

Obama must not flounder on his exit strategy on Afghanistan. The ideal tactic should be for the US and its allies to stay the course till Afghanistan and Pakistan are sanitised.

Fresh agendas are being formed: India is reassessing its priorities; Karzai has already professed a new-found love for Pakistan; China is making its presence felt through socio-economic assistance; Iran has reared its head and recently, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin reiterated that the Taliban and Al Qaida threat were matters of great concern.

In the long run, the unilateral and bilateral agendas of India, China, Pakistan, Iran and Russia in Afghanistan may crisscross to create more confusion than that orchestrated by the US.

Washington must be held accountable and cannot afford to dither.