 | « Back to article | Print this article |
Even as the Inter State Intelligence stands completely exposed in the eyes of the public for its terror links, in particular those against India, the Obama Administration has argued that New Delhi should continue its dialogue process with Islamabad.
"So we are simply encouraging Pakistan and India to pursue a dialogue that we think is fundamentally in the interest of both countries," State Department spokesman P J Crowley told the media at his daily news conference.
"We encourage dialogue between India and Pakistan because it's in the interest of both the countries and in the interest of the US that these countries that have gone to war multiple times in the past 60 years need to build their own relationship, need to find ways beyond military conflict to remove tensions in the relationship, gain a greater understanding that can be of substantial benefit to both the people of India and the people of Pakistan," Crowley explained.
"As the (US) president said, we think that while there might be granularity in some of the material that's released, and again we emphasise that we think this release has done damage to our national security, there's no startling revelations in these documents," he said.
"Pakistan's relationship with elements that morphed into the Taliban go back to the Soviet occupation were very well known. They're known to the United States, they're known to India, and they're known to Afghanistan," Crowley said.
Crowley said the US itself is taking steps to bridge its trust deficit with Pakistan.
"We have demonstrated over the past couple of years our commitment to civilian government in Pakistan. And we understand that going back several years, the commitment to civilian government in Pakistan by the US has been uneven," he said.
"So this is part and parcel of improving the relationship with Pakistan. We are committed to civilian government in Pakistan. Our investments in Pakistan are geared towards helping that government build its capacity and deliver effective services to its people," he said.
The US is committed to helping Pakistan improve its economy, including the economy in the tribal areas, and the frontier areas where the US is concerned about the presence of extremist elements and safe havens that affect the security of Pakistan and the security of the United States.
"So, ultimately, we're trying to both improve relations with Pakistan and US, but we're trying to help Pakistan improve relations between its own population and its own government," he said.