US vows closer ties with Pakistan, but 'not at expense' of relationship with India

US says Delhi to ‘completely’ end Russian oil imports

New Delhi: The United States is keen to expand its ties with Pakistan beyond counterterrorism cooperation, but not “at the expense or instead of” a good relationship with India, President Donald Trump’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, even as the 47th American president, himself, repeated his claim about brokering the May 10 ceasefire between the two South Asian nations.

Trump also said that India was cutting down on its oil imports from Russia “completely”. “So, obviously the more we sell them, the less they’ll buy from someone else,” said Rubio, noting India had already expressed its desire to diversify the sources of its oil imports. Trump and Rubio made the comments while flying to Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, even as New Delhi refrained from endorsing the US president’s claim about securing an assurance from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on India slashing its oil import from Russia.

New Delhi’s envoy to Washington, DC, Vinay Mohan Kwatra, met the deputy secretary at the US Department of Energy, James Danly, on Friday. India recently underlined its keenness in expanding its energy procurement from the US.

Apart from Trump’s tariff tirade and his diatribe against India for buying oil from Russia, what also added to the stress in the ties between New Delhi and Washington DC, were his growing bonhomie with the civil and military leadership of Pakistan and his praise for the counterterrorism efforts of Pakistan in complete disregard of India’s concerns over cross-border terror, as well his repeated claims about persuading the two South Asian nations to end the military flare-up between May 7 and 10.

“We know they’re concerned for obvious reasons because of the tensions that have existed between Pakistan and India historically. But, I think they have to understand we have to have relations with a lot of different countries,” Rubio, who accompanied the US president to Kuala Lumpur, said. “We see an opportunity to expand our strategic relationship with Pakistan, and I think we’ve made – that’s our job, is to try to figure out how many countries we can find how we can work with on things of common interest.”

Trump had last month hosted Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who lauded him for facilitating the May 10 ceasefire that ended a four-day cross-border military flare-up between the South Asian nation and its arch-rival India. Sharif was accompanied by Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, the chief of the Pakistan Army, during his meeting with the US president at the White House. Trump had earlier hosted Munir at his official residence in Washington, DC, on June 18, completely disregarding New Delhi’s allegation that the Pakistan Army chief had provoked the April 22 terrorist attack near Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir with an incendiary speech against India.

“So, 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,” said Rubio, who might have a meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Kuala Lumpur on Monday. “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,” added the US secretary of state.

Trump has, over the past few days, repeatedly claimed to have received an assurance from Modi about India slashing oil imports from Russia. This began on October 15, when he had said that the prime minister had assured him that India would cut down its oil imports from Russia. New Delhi stated that Modi and Trump had not spoken over the phone that day. A spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi, in response to the claim from Washington, DC, had on October 16 avoided an overtly confrontational approach and stated that India’s import policies had been entirely guided by the objective of safeguarding the interests of consumers in the country.

Without directly clarifying if it would lower the import of oil from Russia, New Delhi had stated that its energy policies included broad-basing and diversifying sources in accordance with market conditions.

Trump had reiterated his claim aboard Air Force One on October 19 and again during a meeting with NATO chief Mark Rutte at the White House on October 22.

“You probably saw today, China is cutting back very substantially on the purchase of Russian oil, and India is cutting back completely," Trump told journalists aboard Air Force One while flying to Kuala Lumpur on Saturday. He also referred to the fresh US sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil, the two major oil companies of Russia.

The US president and his aides have been accusing India and China of funding Russia’s war in Ukraine, as both continued to buy oil from the former Soviet Union nation. The US and the European Union imposed multiple sanctions on Russia after President Vladimir Putin launched “special military operations” in Ukraine in February 2022. India was accused of defying or circumventing the sanctions and raising its oil imports from Russia.

Russia’s share in India’s total crude oil imports rose from less than 2 per cent before the launch of its war in Ukraine in 2022 to around 40 per cent by 2023–24. But, in recent months, Russia’s share had slipped to about 36 per cent of total oil imports of India.

The US president had, on August 6, announced an additional 25 per cent tariff – on top of 25 per cent levied just about a week back – on all imports from India. The additional 25 per cent tariff had been imposed to prod India to stop buying oil from Russia.

“I think India has already expressed an interest in diversifying their oil portfolio and who they buy from,” said Rubio.

Trump attended the ASEAN conclaves hosted by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim of Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur. A visit by Modi to Kuala Lumpur would have created an opportunity for a bilateral meeting between him and the US president. The officials of the two sides had been exploring the possibilities of such a meeting in Kuala Lumpur to ease the stress in the relations between India and the US. But Trump’s repeated claims about Modi assuring him about India cutting down oil imports from Russia put the government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party in New Delhi at the receiving end of the criticism by the Congress and the rest of the Opposition.

Modi’s decision to avoid travelling to Kuala Lumpur, according to the sources in New Delhi, was based on an assessment of the political implications of his meeting with Trump ahead of the assembly elections in Bihar and the need to avoid risking a mismatch in the accounts of the discussion to be presented to the media by the two sides.