‘US relationship with Pak will never come at expense of India ties,’ says Marco Rubio

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that Washington’s relationship with Pakistan or any other country “will never come at the expense” of its ties with India. Rubio made the assertion on being asked whether a situation like the 1970s, when then-US President Richard Nixon and his national security advisor Henry Kissinger displayed an obvious tilt towards Pakistan, was returning.

“…What everyone should be assured of in India is that our relationship, not just with Pakistan but with any country in the world, will never come at the expense of our relationship. We don’t view it that way in our relationship with India,” Rubio said in an interview with The Indian Express.

‘World looks nothing like it did back then’

Rubio added in his response that he would “not use the 1970s as an example today”, saying, “The world looks nothing like it did back then. Back then, we had the Cold War and all sorts of other dynamics that no longer exist.”

The Nixon-Kissinger era refers to the period between 1969–1974, when former US president Richard Nixon and his then national security adviser Henry Kissinger displayed a “pro-Pakistan tilt” and took a contradicting view of former prime minister Indira Gandhi amid the Indian forces’ push towards the then East Pakistan, which was recognised as Bangladesh three days later.

‘Can discourage actions that worry India’

Rubio further said that engagement with Islamabad puts the US in a position where it can “discourage” actions that worry India.

“Pakistan is a country we have a relationship with, and we need to have a relationship with. And, in some ways, it could be a positive thing if we could help discourage actions that could potentially lead to conflict, if we could use our influence in ways that are positive,” he said.

The US Secretary of State further said that his visits to India, America’s “commitment” to the trade deal with New Delhi and their “engagements” are evidence of the relations.

Rubio, who travelled to India for the second time in less than five months, is here for a three-day official visit with a large business delegation. He held a meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday after landing in Mumbai.

After the meeting, Rubio said both countries were “very close” to finalising a trade deal, with only a few items left.

In another interview, Rubio acknowledged the difficulties in ending Russia’s four-year-old war in Ukraine.

“These things are complex, and if this was an easy war to solve, it would have been solved a long time ago,” he said.