‘Not at expense of relationship with India’: Rubio on warming ties between US and Pakistan

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday (Oct 26) said that while his country is seeking to expand its “strategic relationship” with Pakistan, it won’t come at the cost of Washington’s “deep, historic, and important” ties with India. Speaking to reporters ahead of his meeting with the Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar at the ASEAN summit in Malaysia, Rubio said that this was part of “a mature, pragmatic foreign policy.”

“I think they (India) have to understand we have to have relations with a lot of different countries. We see an opportunity to expand our strategic relationship with Pakistan,” he said. “I think the Indians are very mature when it comes to diplomacy and things of that nature. Look, they have some relationships with countries that we don’t have relationships with. So, it’s part of a mature, pragmatic foreign policy.”

“I don’t think anything we’re doing with Pakistan comes at the expense of our relationship or friendship with India, which is deep, historic, and important,” Rubio said.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump highlighted the United States’ close ties with Pakistan at the ASEAN summit, where he called Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army Chief Asim Munir “great people” and said that he would “quickly” help to resolve the country’s recent conflict with Afghanistan.

Trump has also repeatedly alleged to broker a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, a claim which India has consistently rejected. On the other hand, Islamabad has credited the US president for stopping the conflict between the two countries.

Rubio also acknowledged the challenges between India and the US, including recent tensions over tariffs imposed by Trump and New Delhi’s purchase of Russian oil. “We’re fully aware of the challenges with India, but our job is to create opportunities for partnerships where possible,” he said.

“If they diversified their portfolio, the more they buy it from us, the more they’ll buy it from someone else. But I wouldn’t prejudge or — I’m not negotiating trade deals. So I’m not going to speak on that,” he said. “But I know they’ve (India) already expressed a desire to diversify their oil portfolio, even before all of this came up. So, obviously the more we sell them, the less they’ll buy from someone else. And, but, we’ll see where we wind up on all that.”