Addressing one of India’s major concerns, Obama Administration’s point man for South Asia has said that United States is taking appropriate steps to ensure that the military aid given to Pakistan is not used against India.
The issue was discussed during last week’s Strategic Dialogue between India and the U.S.; which was co-chaired by External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
“I think they (India) understand that we are trying to build up Pakistan’s counter-insurgency capabilities and we are seeking end use assurances to insure that the weapons that are provided will not be used against India,” Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Robert Blake said in response to a question at a State Department Blog Forum.
This is for the first time U.S. has come out in public to state that it was taking steps to ensure that its military aid to Pakistan would not be used against India.
This has been one of the major concerns of the Indian leaders which were effectively conveyed to their American counterparts in the last week’s strategic dialogue held at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department.
Blake said India and the U.S. have a shared interest in stabilisation of Pakistan; and New Delhi supports the U.S.’ Pak policy.
“They believe we have a shared interest in helping to stabilise Pakistan, and they’re certainly well aware that a spiral down would not be in India’s interests,” Mr. Blake said during a conversation on a State Department blog Forum.
Participating in the blog forum, Teresita Schaffer, director of South Asia Program at the CSIS — a Washington— based think—tank, said U.S., India, and Pakistan share an interest in seeing Pakistan as a state emerge more strongly from this terrible time that it is going through.
“This will not mean that India and Pakistan agree on a whole lot of stuff. But underneath it all, there is this very important interest in common that we shouldn’t forget about,” she said.
