Twenty-four hours after the twin blasts in Boston on Monday afternoon, a tragedy we in India can fully empathise with, we still do not have an authoritative version of the events. It looks like a terrorist attack all right, although the US government is expectedly cautious about calling it that.
Twin explosions within a short time of one another point to terrorism. Unnamed White House sources have also been quoted as saying pretty much that, though in his brief remarks President Barack Obama was just a shade more circumspect.
If it does turn out to be a foreign terrorist, or even a domestic one with foreign backing, chances are that the trail could lead to Pakistan, West Asia or the Afghan theatre. Washington’s relations with all of these places are both sensitive and delicate at present. Naming any country from this arc is likely to carry political implications.
Into his second term now, President Obama has still not succeeded in finding reconciliation with Islamic societies, a project on which he had set his heart at the beginning of his first term. At a time when US forces are seeking to draw down from the AfPak region, the equation is likely to get complicated if the source of the Monday bombing was located there.
The other implication of the Boston blasts is that it has occurred under
Mr Obama’s watch. His political adversaries will probably work to exploit it. That’s the way it goes in a democracy. If it indeed does turn out to be terrorism, this would be the first time since the horror of September 11, 2001, that America will be seeing covert warfare visit its mainland.
For Americans, this will be a letdown after the billions spent in setting up a homeland security apparatus, and all the sophistication brought to bear on hunting down terrorists the world over where US interests might be thought to need protection.
But the world too will be watching. The message is hardly a good one: if America’s security can be breached through ingenuity and clever ploys, surely other nations — that cannot deploy resources on the same scale — continue to be at much greater risk. India is one such country.
It is appropriate that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should have sent the US President a message of solidarity. In his remarks, the PM alluded to terrorism and noted that both the US and India remain in the crosshairs of terrorists. This is perfectly true. It is a pity that even after September 11, the US has sometimes acted as if terrorism can be overlooked if American interests are not affected. We can only hope that such a view does not prevail any longer.