the land area south of the nations of pakistan afghanistan india sri lanka and the mouth is half the size of the united states literally asia within the borders of the united states but south asia is the home to more than one point six billion people in the united states just over three hundred million in india alone are over two thousand ethnic groups and twenty two official languages 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 strange as outsiders unfortunately for many americans the region is still seen primarily through the lens of the attacks our country on september eleventh two thousand and one south asia's own problems have become horribly engrossed in the struggle we face radical extremism before nine eleven india and pakistan had several was 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 in the fight against al qaeda and the taliban and it should be recalled before nine eleven the united states could not honestly claim that our commitment to either afghanistan or pakistan was deep or serious it and we used them and they used and we had their dysfunctional governments and failing economies were problems of little consequence we made a lot of assumptions that the fundamental political instability of the region could be contained by states and constitution and that they would make the conflicts between religions and ethnicities go away flags and governments would suffice in place of genuine political reconciliation that the conflicts between states and within states would not lead over borders or at least not beyond the region and that the complexity of south asia could be sealed up and shrink wrapped into tiny national packages and then left in cold storage suffice it to say these assumptions didn't pan out so today we're engaged in extensive military operations and massive efforts at governance and capacity building at a time when our own economic and fiscal position is circumstances in afghanistan and pakistan will absolutely necessitate these extraordinary efforts like many i remain concerned that all the money and initiative and effort let us not let us never forget the blood of our troops would be for naught if we don't start making some very fundamental changes in how we do business we poured billions of dollars in both economic and military assistance and into both afghanistan and pakistan and in many cases it's not hard to conclude that the money was badly spent if not completely wasted we fought for years in afghanistan and it can't be truthfully claimed that the country is getting safer were over the current counterinsurgency campaign in pakistan so badly overdue has given rise to massive displacement of approximately two million people the anger and desperation of this population should give us pause if the continued growing public outrage about civilian casualties caused by drone strikes was not enough i have no doubt that we and our allies will not be able to destroy al qaida and block dreams of the afghan taliban and other militants in pakistan without violence the fanatic ambitions of these groups and our allies however no alternative what is becoming clear is that while our own understanding of the region of regional security ethnic and tribal dynamics is growing so too is a popular backlash against the methods we've been using so something needs to change albert einstein's warning holds true today we can't solve our problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them in approving billions of dollars of assistance and supporting the heroic efforts of our troops and our diplomatic developments officers on the ground congress has done a great deal but i wonder if perhaps we wouldn't do more if we helped in a bit more circumspection about our ability to buy or impose changes in the interests and perceptions of our state about the state a bit more  about our capacity to build the capacity of others and maybe a bit more modest about the ability of the u s military to deliver political reconciliation and development finally i'd be remiss if i didn't say a few words about the other states in the region truthfully there is too much to say with india we're moving forward on what i believe can be and will be a true partnership one built on both shared values and genuine cooperation across a broad range of people tend to focus on cooperation on nuclear energy i believe the potential of the relationship is much much greater the recent indian elections hold out real hope of a strong government in the delhi that is ready and willing to address the many political and economic challenges facing a country that despite its shining achievements in the new economy remains overwhelmingly rural agra and impoverished i think there was a tremendous opportunity for us to engage successfully with this government across the full spectrum of our special relationships are the now one agreement and one success at a time it's time for new delhi and washington to get to work is emerging from an awful civil war recent conclusion only open to questions about how the chand i think the united states should offer its assistance to relieving the suffering and the displaced as much as we can while fully respecting the sovereignty of sri lanka and we should encourage true national reconciliation bangladesh an apology are transitioning to a new and more democratic government which is good news most of all to their own citizens but i remain concerned that the fundamental political problems in both societies remain by and large unresolved places where a little bit of u s assistance can go a very long way in bhutan the progress towards democracy is heartening they could probably benefit from some u s assistance is strengthening the capacity of the national assembly the problems before they become problems for others or ourselves if we should have learned one thing from that awful day in two thousand and one which would be th south asia are and it's come to fruition and so when indian americans started buying hotels and motels in the communities that i represent i became their attorney i said i know who you are and so it was a great relationship i was able to incorporate the also with the highest per capita income of any group in the united states with the highest percentage of millionaires of any immigrant group in the united states and so what a wonderful positive relationship that we can have with the people of south asia and i also have an interest in central asia the opportunities there hopefully for the people of that region with friendship with united states and that would even include night agree with my colleague always coast boxer and i agree on about ninety two percent of the things but i would tell you i see a bright future for western siberia in russia itself can be looked at in different regions as you look at america and so on i'm very hopeful and i wish you well in your service and however i can work with my colleagues in carson ackerman then i have travel together what extraordinary guy he's tireless so look forward to working with this team thank you pakistan i came away with a number of impressions that i would like to cover in his statement clearly with the elections that have been completed in india do we  my colleagues noted an important effort i think we need to play a positive role in the term reset i guess is popular these days trying to reach out to refocus what has been the traditional hostile relationship between india and pakistan because i think if that is changed i think a whole lot of good can come from that obviously both of those countries are central to our efforts with regards to afghanistan and to iran so i would like to in your narrative describe clearly a balanced approach that uses all the diplomatic tools in our diplomatic tool box as it relates to both in terms of trying to to reset thank you very much for inviting me here today and let me say that i appreciate the interest in the south asia region and welcome the opportunity to provide an overview of recent developments and our initiatives in south asia mr chairman the president has made it a top foreign policy priority to disrupt dismantle and eventually defeat al qaeda and affiliated extremist groups and eliminate their safe havens in afghanistan and pakistan under the direction of the special representative for afghanistan and pakistan about richard holbrooke the broad strategy to achieve this goal is now being implemented pakistan as demonstrated a renewed commitment to countering the militant threat since may of this year the government has made progress in pushing back the extremist encroachment  we have committed over three hundred million dollars in immediate relief efforts and mobilizing international secretary clinton and holbrooke have personally rallied the international community  assistance most recently in europe and the gulf to ensure that u n agencies on the ground are able to respond effectively to the needs of the displaced as the afghan elections approach we're encouraging the afghan people to determine the issues that are important to them demand of the candidates explain their programs and vote for their future we are working with the afghan government and international community to help ensure an electoral process that is credible and inclusive and we provided one hundred twenty million dollars to support the election mr chairman south and central asia as one of the least economically integrated regions in the world as we implement the president's strategy on afghanistan and pakistan we are working closely we're working more closely to these two countries with their surrounding neighbors and with their region and open up foreign markets to their products integration is vital to creating interdependence which will foster peaceful relations closer cooperation and sustain vibrant economies into afghanistan pakistan and the broader region the establishment of reconstruction opportunity zones as called for and legislation currently being considered by congress will be an important step in stimulating economic growth in both countries and drawing people away from extremism and let me say that we appreciate the house support for the  in partnership with other u s departments and agencies my staff is engaged owners most governments in the private sector an established working groups on regional economic integration and cooperation were working on power transmission gas pipelines road development railroads trade facilitation border crossings information and community and communication technology and water mr chairman secretary clinton have both expressed a deep commitment to building stronger ties with india a commitment based on mutual respect and mutual interest as secretary clinton recently put it in a speech before the us india business coun that is supportive of a stronger us in the a relationship and we look forward to working with prime minister singh's government to make that vision a reality we also to continue to support dialogue between the indian and pakistani leaders the timing and scope and content of any such dialogue are strictly matters for the indians pakistanis to decide let me just briefly touch on some of the other countries mr chairman in nepal we continue to press for progress on implementing the peace agreement signed in two thousand and six including the drafting of a new constitution we believe it is important for the maoists to remain involved in the peace process and in and in the political process and avoid a d conflict in sri lanka we continue to press the sri lankan government to grant humanitarian relief organizations full access to the internally displaced persons who are now residing in the camps and to engage in elections in its history this promising backdrop makes it important for the united states to engage bangladesh as it confronts daunting challenges including chronic political partisanship widespread poverty civil engage with the opposition and include them in the decision making process transition from an absolute to constitutional monarchy has gone smoothly and continues to consolidate its democracy after holding historic democratic elections last year that ended former president thirty years in power in conclusion mr chairman thank you for giving me this opportunity to discuss one of the most dynamic and important reg s foreign policy and security interests and let me say that i will look forward to working closely with you and all the other members of this committee to advance our nations in this region now i'd like you happy to take any of local priorities in the project and security will that severely limit interactions with afghans and project i understand that some contracts have been put on hold at this point general that congress has appointed has a very important role to play we also have a much more closely integrated civil military strategy at the u s embassy in kabul to make sure that this is all made up with our military efforts mr chairman you mentioned agriculture that is going to be one of the important new directions in our policy in afghanistan were going to put a much greater emphasis on agriculture  frankly much reduced emphasis on eradication of poppy to put people back to work in afghanistan and to frankly increase our aid effectiveness so what's going to be different about our new program will be first of all we're going to be working directly with the ministry in this case the ministry of agriculture we're going to have a counter insurgency focus in terms of the agricultural products a lot of the things we're trying to do afghanistan and pakistan another area and what what i from all the visits i've had there that corruption in that part of the world if not in  the central government and expand into other parts of afghanistan and a major port part of that will be for them to address the problem of corruption and i think i think there's been some steps that have been taken already there's a very dynamic will be dramatically increased economic assistance to help dress a lot of the economic problems and also a lot of the governance problems that have plagued pakistan so we very much appreciate the store thank but i see this is a nato function and so whatever to be made to encourage our nato allies fully engaged to create a civil society thank you very much for that even in terms of discussion here at the committee level and although my good friend and colleague and chairman gary ackerman has always some self maintained a strong interest in issues related to the country  you know being not stuck between but next to a rising india and faltering pakistan they have been given short shrift they've had their troubles and we know that they've had a story collection as you mentioned in your comments they never as bad as some of their neighbors and because of that i think they often fall out of sight at least it seems to be pushed aside more often than we'd like to see can you tell me what they do and what is it going to do to engage the newly elected government said i think we have some some opportunities to work with bangladesh it's a country that everybody knows all the challenges they face political partisanship that has divided them poverty that is plagued that  country the natural disasters that seem to come with the regular regular intervals but at the same time i think it's a country that's achieved quite a lot i mean they have poverty five or six percent growth for the last fifteen years or more and they have a lot of pockets of excellence one of the things that i learned while i was there is that they've made tremendous progress in terms of improving women's literacy for example which is  of some of extremism and make sure that them addresses are producing graduates who can get jobs in the bangladeshi economy and are not tempted to join extremist groups so we think there are a lot of respect to the war crimes tribunals we discussed and i said to them that that's obviously up to them but they've got to make sure that this is not by the people of bangladesh as an effort to undermine the progress that has been made on democracy specifically with respect to the job that this is not as a political effort to get rid of a troublesome  has been written in congress where the restrictions would be burdensome requirements i think it legislation is not going to do anything to increase trade with pakistan and that trade with pakistan right now should be an important goal as this bill moves to conference with the senate and as a process continues this provision must be liberalized if it's going to affect suggest that at this point in time this a curate a relationship be a big part of that focus that that opportunity for counterterrorism cooperation i think in many ways we're just getting to realize the potential of the relationship with india in terms of promoting stability and security in the region but this is an area that is of immediate interest i think in terms of bangladesh and let me just raise word of caution here because you testified that extremism buys little popular support there i think this close scrutiny because of the draw that are opening up i've spoken to a number of people on the ground including those in bangladesh who are monitoring the situation and they tell me afghanistan and you explain that you are completely restructuring the contracting process looking at how we i hope that afghan americans play a large role in that process because i'm also very interested in how the afghan government contracts frankly a mess and china and other countries play a very detrimental role putting it charitably i'd say they play that role by bringing contracting standards that are far from acceptable and i'd like your thoughts on that and i have from my trips to the region firsthand examples from the government witness that and relayed that to me about what we can do on that front thank you very much record let me ask about contract when i was in afghanistan earlier this year what struck me was the enormous explosion in the use of funds by military commanders in the field now within reason that program may make an awful lot of sense in terms of trying to broaden our mission and demonstrate the constructive aspects of it however when you start to get to figures that look like nine hundred million dollars that's a lot more than walking around money and that starts to look like one of the largest bilateral aid programs in the world and and i am deeply concerned that military commanders in the field they know a lot of experts in foreign assistance and development assistance and technical assistance they are not and when you ask what could go wrong with nine hundred million dollars in the field in afghanistan for example the answers are all wonderful i wonder if you'd comment on what the state department is doing or whether the state department even shares my concern that perhaps this has gotten to the point where and as a result of that no longer controls any territory whatsoever which is an important step forward but now has to take additional steps to really win the peace and to ensure a lasting peace to ensure reconciliation and so we are really focused on different parts of that is the rapid resettlement of almost three hundred thousand internally displaced persons who are in the camps  o undertake local elections and provincial council elections so that there can be an elected government in the north for the people of the northern region they haven't had elected government for the entire time of the rule  but more broadly to look at other ways to share power with the tamils and with other minority communities and that would include things like implementing the thirteenth amendment which is already in the constitution which provides for devolution of power is near its conclusion now and we've encouraged the government to finish that process to achieve a consensus among the parties about what are the steps that they should do  provide for additional constitutional reforms the president for example has been talking about creating an opera house of parliament that would be comprised of representatives of the various provincial councils and that again would be a way to afghanistan and pakistan it should not be to representative of the secretary of state it should be to those people who work with and for invest think we're very encouraged by the progress that has been made in swat valley as you said much more needs to be done and i think they do have the capabilities to undertake that