WASHINGTON (Staff Report) – United States Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter has said that both Pakistan and India are important friends and partners of US and there is no hyphenation between the relation with two countries.
Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), Carter said that United States enjoys multifaceted global ties ties with India while relationship with Pakistan is significant for Afghanistan and terrorism related issues. Pakistan is an important security partner, however he a much greater agenda to work on with India, he added.
Responding to a query about United States’ ties with Pakistan and India, he said “they find themselves in very different situations and the days are gone when we only deal with India as the other side of the Pakistan coin, or Pakistan as the other side of the India coin, I know that there are those in India and Pakistan who are still glued to that dyad way of thinking but the United States put that behind us some time ago.”
The statement comes ahead of Ashton Carter’s three-day official trip to India, where he is expected to meet top Indian leadership including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
