Relations with Pakistan not at India's expense: US

"This is a subject (India's concerns about US military assistance to Pakistan) that comes up in all of our discussions with high-level Indian officials. It comes up in all of our discussions with high-level Pakistani officials," US State Department spokesman P J Crowley told reporters when asked about New Delhi's concerns on the issue.

"We continue to provide the same message to both countries. This is not a zero-sum proposition. Our assistance to Pakistan does not come at the expense of India, and our relationship with India does not come at the expense of Pakistan," he said.

Less than a month ago, India's Defence Minister A K Antony in his meetings with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defence Secretary Robert Gates had expressed his concerns that US military aid to Pakistan normally ends up being used against India.
Clinton yesterday announced a new USD 2 billion security assistance package for Pakistan, as she pushed Islamabad to take stronger action against terrorists within the country, thus ignoring India's concerns.

She also announced another 29 million aid to Pakistan in International Military Education and Training (IMET), thus increasing the total aid package to USD 2.29 billion.
"This is a subject (India's concerns about US military assistance to Pakistan) that comes up in all of our discussions with high-level Indian officials. It comes up in all of our discussions with high-level Pakistani officials," State Department spokesman P J Crowley told reporters when asked about India's concerns in this regard.

"We continue to provide the same message to both countries. This is not a zero-sum proposition. Our assistance to Pakistan does not come at the expense of India, and our relationship with India does not come at the expense of Pakistan," he said.

Crowley, however, dodged the question on if there is any safeguard in the aid package to prevent Pakistan from diverting the money from counter-insurgency or counter- terrorism purposes.

"Well, all countries are sovereign, but by the same token, we've tailored this package we believe to improve training and equipping that is focused on our counter- insurgency programmes," he said.