Obama Administration’s point man for Afghanistan and Pakistan has said that the next week’s India visit of the U.S. president is not only important for strengthening the bilateral ties but also for the peace in South Asia.
“When President (Barack) Obama goes to New Delhi, in what will be a very important trip to strengthen U.S.-Indian ties, that is not at the expense of Pakistan or Afghanistan. “We work with all three countries for peace and stability in South Asia,” Special U.S. Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke told reporters here ahead of the visit.
“So you have a picture here of continuous engagement by the United States in these three countries, so different in culture and economic development and history, but living in a common strategic area, where actions in any one of the three affect the other two,” he said.
“The United States has good bilateral relations with Kabul, with Islamabad, and with New Delhi. And we want to be sure that everyone understands that when we pay attention to one country we’re not diminishing our support for the others.
When we have a Strategic Dialogue with Pakistan, that is not diminishing our relationships with its neighbours,” said Mr. Holbrooke.
“I can assure you that Afghanistan, India, Pakistan being three countries with all of which we have good relations, all of which we want to improve relations with and which we fully take into account the effect of our actions on one on the other’s is the underlying principle with which our government approaches our policy,” Mr. Holbrooke said in response to a question.
