Since the initiation of US attack on Afghanistan, South Asias strategic situation is being continually defined and redefined by the changing realities of timeand at a very fast pace too. The ongoing tussle among the key playersUS, Taliban, Pakistan, India, Russia and Chinahas been made further complex by the global economic recession and a desperate search by US for a face-saving military withdrawal from Afghanistan. The US urgently wants an 'honourable exit from Afghanistan. It is in this background one should view the opportunity US is offering to Indian Army to train the Afghan Army and Police. There could be three possible reasons; (a) The US wants to take India into confidence since another Great Game is being played in this region, this time between US and China. Maybe the US wants to counter Chinas economic expansion with Indias growing influence in the region. (b) After global economic recession, the leading US economic institutions seem to have failed miserably leaving the US economy in dire straits. The public perception gaining strength by the day is that this recession is somehow linked to the global war on terror. The Obama administration is, thus, under great pressure to withdraw from Afghanistan as early as it can and this has been an election pledge of the President and his party too. (c) The US wants India to fill the vacuum that would surely be created after its withdrawal because it sees the Taliban seizing the opportunity otherwise. Despite the catchphrase of 'major Non-NATO-Ally and the 'frontline state in the War on Terror, the US doesnt want Pakistan to manipulate the vacuum in its favour. The US is not pushed too much about Pakistans genuine strategic concerns vis--vis India greater role in the shape of Indian military presence in Afghanistan on the western front of Pakistan. Pakistans western borders would be rendered unsafe and the precarious balance of power in South Asia would be destabilised but that does not seem to bother Washington. -AFIA AMBR-EEN, Rawalpindi, July 7.