Outside View: Obama's bold game.

Byline: M.D. NALAPAT

MANIPAL, India, July 7 (UPI) -- With the same confidence that allowed the junior senator from Illinois to launch a campaign for the presidency of the United States, Barack Obama has decided to "reset" U.S.-Russian relations, banking on the forward-looking vision he shares with Russian President Dimitry Medvedev.

For the U.S. president this has been a high-risk operation, given the undercurrent of suspicion toward Russia within the U.S. strategic community as well as the citizenry. But the benefits are clear. The securing of transit rights through Russian territory and airspace for U.S. military materiel to Afghanistan, as agreed Monday, will reduce Washington's current dependence on Pakistan.

A further warming of ties also may encourage the Moscow-leaning former Afghan Northern Alliance groups to stop sulking and participate in the war against the Taliban. Leaving this struggle to the ethnic Pashtun groups alone would be a mistake that could cost Afghan President Hamid Karzai at least one-fifth -- if not one-third -- of his country. The Taliban has to be rooted out of both Pakistan and Afghanistan if the region is to have a chance at rapid social and economic development.

NATO's substantial outsourcing of Afghan strategy to the Pakistan army has resulted in the neglect of former elements of the Northern Alliance, despite the group's experience in fighting the Taliban. This should be rectified through reconciliation between the former anti-Taliban fighters and NATO, a process that the Obama-Medvedev initiative begun in Moscow on Monday could accelerate.

However, it may be a mistake to involve Moscow in training Afghan police, as has been suggested by the U.S. side. Just as the U.S. coalition with Britain aroused memories of British colonial domination in Iraq, any insertion of Russian forces into Afghanistan could spark similar memories -- giving the Taliban the lever they need to sell their war against modern civilization as the protection of Afghan freedom. Any Russian training of Afghans might be better done in Central Asia rather than within Afghanistan.

The warming of ties with the United States will give Moscow elbow room with Beijing, which until now has had a monopoly over major-country strategic engagement with Russia, because of the chill in its relations with the United States. While Beijing has emerged as the alternative pole for those capitals wishing to keep away from or even challenge the West -- such as Iran and Venezuela -- the Chinese Communist Party has combined this with a vigorous policy of engagement with the United States and the European Union.