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Making sure that Pak not using military aid against India: US

Last Updated 09 June 2010, 04:27 IST
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The issue was discussed during last week's Strategic Dialogue between India and the US; which was co-chaired by External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

"I think they (India) understand that we are trying to build up Pakistan's counter-insurgency capabilities and we are seeking end use assurances to insure that the weapons that are provided will not be used against India," Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Robert Blake said in response to a question at a State Department Blog Forum.

This is for the first time US has come out in public to state that it was taking steps to ensure that its military aid to Pakistan would not be used against India.

This has been one of the major concerns of the Indian leaders which were effectively conveyed to their American counterparts in the last week's strategic dialogue held at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department.

Blake said India and the US have a shared interest in stabilisation of Pakistan; and New Delhi supports the US' Pak policy.

"They believe we have a shared interest in helping to stabilise Pakistan, and they're certainly well aware that a spiral down would not be in India's interests," Blake said during a conversation on a State Department blog Forum.

Participating in the blog forum, Teresita Schaffer, director of South Asia Program at the CSIS - a Washington- based think-tank, said US, India, and Pakistan share an interest in seeing Pakistan as a state emerge more strongly from this terrible time that it is going through.

"This will not mean that India and Pakistan agree on a whole lot of stuff. But underneath it all, there is this very important interest in common that we shouldn't forget about," she said.

One of the blogger participating in the discussion, Richard M in Bahrain said people in India get the feeling that the US was quite happy to let Pakistani terrorists do whatever they want in India and elsewhere as long as the terror was not exported to the US.

Blake said since 9/11, and particularly since the terrible attacks in 2008 in Mumbai, India and the US have significantly ramped up their intelligence and law enforcement cooperation precisely to prevent terrorist attacks.

"I think we - most of what we do, of course, is confidential. We don't talk about it too much, but I think it has had quite an impact," he argued.

"I don't think we're ever going to be completely able to stop these terrorist attacks, but if there's any, sort of, single story that's been really important over the last two years, it's been this growing cooperation," he noted.

"The United States consistently emphasizes, as I have today, that it is very important, in particular for Pakistan, to take action against these groups that are targeting not only India, but increasingly, the United States.

"So, I think there is a convergence in this area as well, and we hope to do even more in this area, because I think there's a lot to be done," Blake said.

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(Published 09 June 2010, 03:34 IST)

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