Notwithstanding growing ties with India, US will not junk Pakistan

It was a bold and clear message from the US and India statement that has thrown an open challenge to counter global terrorism and unequivocally condemn terrorism and violent extremism in all its forms and manifestations. The statement has unnerved Pakistan as well as China.

A South Asia expert at the Hudson Institute describes US-India as a boon to President Biden to declare to the world that the US has got India as ally on his side. The US considers China the most serious long-term challenger to the United States, despite renewed efforts to manage tensions.

The joint statement by US-India has also insisted Pakistan take immediate action “against all terrorist groups”, leaving an option of asking the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to further tighten its anti-money-laundering and terrorism financing standards.

Both India and Pakistan are relevant to the US for different reasons. India is on the geopolitical centre stage. Its strategic value for the West is increasing. Thus, after the US-India joint declaration, US Ambassador to Pakistan Donald Blome moved his pawn diplomatically on June 23, keeping Pakistan under US wings and saying “Our people-to-people ties have taken forward the US-Pakistan relationship for 75 years. Perhaps the most meaningful result of our diplomatic engagement is the network of personal and professional connections made by tens of thousands of Pakistanis who have gone to the US on US-funded academic programmes and exchanges and those Americans who come to study in Pakistan”.(IANS)