NEW YORK– A senior State Department official said Wednesday that Washington continues to treat its relationships with India and Pakistan separately, dismissing speculation that U.S. policy is drifting back toward “hyphenating” the two South Asian neighbors.
“We continue to see India and Pakistan in two separate ways, seeing them on their own in the relationship, looking at an America First policy that advances our interest,” the official told reporters. “They’re quite different relationships.”
On Kashmir, the official reiterated the long-standing U.S. position that it remains an issue for New Delhi and Islamabad to resolve directly. “We will leave that up to India and Pakistan to solve,” the official said, while adding that President Donald Trump is willing to help “if he is asked,” but has “enough crises on his hands.”
The remarks follow Trump’s repeated claims that he helped ease tensions between India and Pakistan earlier this year, despite New Delhi’s insistence that the two nations resolved the matter themselves. The senior official pushed back against India’s denial, saying, “It is a fact that the United States was involved in that crisis,” while acknowledging that the Indian government “has a domestic constituency they have to also speak to.”
The official also expressed concern about Pakistan’s growing ties with China, though emphasized that U.S. engagement with Islamabad is viewed independently. “We are really trying to look at Pakistan through the lens of the U.S.-Pakistan relationship, and that relationship standing on its own, and figuring out what areas we can work together,” the official said.
The comments came during a broader discussion on South Asia policy, in which the official described some “turbulence” in Washington’s ties with New Delhi but stressed that the U.S. continues to see India as a key partner. (Source: IANS)
