WASHINGTON – The United States of America (USA) reaffirmed its support for direct engagement between India and Pakistan, saying that it would not dictate the manner in which these discussions should be conducted.
State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller on Thursday made this statement while responding to a question about Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s recent congratulations to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on securing a third term in office.
The relationship between India and Pakistan has worsened significantly since August 5, 2019, when India revoked the special constitutional status of Jammu and Kashmir.
Since then, the two nuclear-armed neighbors have expelled each other’s ambassadors and restricted bilateral trade.
“We value our important relationships with both India and Pakistan,” Spokesperson Matthew Miller said, adding that as they had said, they support direct discussions between India and Pakistan, but the pace, scope, and character of those talks should be determined by the two countries, not by them.
Talking about terrorism, the spokesperson highlighted the shared interest between the US and Pakistan in addressing regional security threats.
“The United States and Pakistan share a common interest in combating threats to regional security,” he said.
Miller said, “We collaborate with Pakistan on security through our high-level counterterrorism dialogue, which includes several capacity-building programs, and support a series of US-Pakistan military-to-military engagements,”.
“We maintain regular communication with Pakistani leaders as part of our counterterrorism partnership, and will continue to discuss regional security comprehensively through our annual counterterrorism dialogue and other bilateral consultations,” he added.
