B. Raman addresses the issue bang on target.

analysts have rightly advised the Indian government to not to be intimidated by this blackmail. They have suggested India continue helping the Hamid Karzai government in its reconstruction programme, while strengthening physical security for Indian personnel deployed in Afghan territory. Where I disagree with them is about the origin of this blackmail. It is not a message from the Taliban as they have contended, but it is a message from Pakistan through the Taliban. [...] According to the minister, the Indian government, on coming to know of Kutty’s kidnapping, had immediately sought the intervention of the Karzai government, foreign embassies in Kabul and Afghan tribal leaders. The government’s action gives a disturbing indication of the extent to which it is out of touch with the ground realities relating to terrorism in general, and Afghanistan in particular. What are the ground realities, you might well ask. The Karzai government has very little control over southern and eastern Afghanistan. The Taliban, al Qaeda and Hizbe Islami remnants — operating from sanctuaries in and around Quetta, Pakistan — have stepped up their activities in this region since March. They have killed a large number of Afghan government troops, policemen and an increasing number of American soldiers. [...] Since Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s US visit in July, the Taliban and al Qaeda have stepped up their propaganda against India. [...] Only two persons could have effectively intervened with the Taliban and saved Kutty’s life: Musharraf and Maulana Fazlur Rahman, the Amir of the Jamiat-ul-Ulema Islam Pakistan, who is very close to the Taliban Amir. Some of the Indian Deobandi leaders might have been able to seek the intervention of the Maulana, who would have been only too glad to try to be of assistance. If it had not occurred to the Indian government to try these approaches, it shows how out of touch with the ground realities our policy makers have been.

The Acorn echoes the same thoughts and has some ideas about what needs to be done urgently.