This would be hilarious if it wasn’t such a serious issue.  From the State Department (emphasis mine):

Taken Question

India: Meeting of Secretary Clinton and [Indian] Foreign Secretary Menon

Robert Wood

Acting Department Spokesman, Office of the Spokesman

Bureau of Public Affairs

Washington, DC

March 9, 2009

Question:  Did Special Representative Holbrooke attend the meeting?

Answer:  No.

This is what is known as a “taken question,” one where the spokesman is asked a question during the daily briefing to which s/he doesn’t know the answer.  This may be the shortest answer to a taken question I’ve ever seen.

It also reinforces reports that the Indians pushed very hard to exclude Kashmir from Holbrooke’s brief, which tantamount to excluding Syria from George Mitchell’s.  As Steve Coll’s brilliant piece in last week’s New Yorker makes clear, Kashmir is in many ways the key to solving the Afghanistan and Pakistan crises.

I don’t necessarily believe that it makes sense for Holbrooke to get involved in Kashmir — as Coll notes, neither the Indians or the Pakistanis want outside mediation in what have been somewhat productive back-channel talks.  But the Obama Administration’s decision to accede to the Indian demand almost certainly has given the Pakistanis the impression that the United States favors India.  Should a time come when the parties seek outside mediation, that may come back to limit the American role.

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