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- Partnership with Pakistan not at the expense of India: Rubio.
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that Washington sees “an opportunity to expand its strategic relationship with Pakistan”, and emphasized that this commitment is not at the expense of the US friendship with India.
During a press conference, Secretary Rubio was asked if India had raised concerns about Washington’s growing strategic commitment and stronger relations with Pakistan.
“They really haven’t; I mean, we know they’re concerned for obvious reasons because of the tensions that have historically existed between Pakistan and India,” he said, according to a transcript of the briefing on the State Department website.
He noted that India must understand that the United States must maintain relations with multiple partners.
“We see an opportunity to expand our strategic relationship with Pakistan,” Rubio said, adding that this was part of Washington’s broader policy of working with nations where common interests align.
He reiterated that evolving US ties with Pakistan would not undermine its relationship with India, which he described as “deep, historic and important.”
Asked if the relations arose from Islamabad’s appreciation of Washington’s role in helping to avoid a potential war between India and Pakistan, Rubio said the renewed engagement with Pakistan had begun even before the conflict, as the United States had expressed interest in rebuilding a “strategic partnership” with Islamabad.
He noted that both sides had a long history of cooperation, particularly on counterterrorism, and that Washington was interested in expanding the relationship beyond security issues.
“But I think it’s very encouraging that that relationship has strengthened the way it has, and I don’t think it’s at the expense or instead of a good relationship with India or anyone else,” he added.
The statement comes against the backdrop of improving relations between the two countries after a prolonged diplomatic cooldown.
A first breakthrough came in March, when Pakistani intelligence services handed over an Islamic State operative in Khorasan accused of orchestrating a 2021 Kabul bombing that killed 180 people, including 13 American soldiers.
US President Donald Trump later brokered a ceasefire between Pakistan and India after both countries engaged in a military standoff in May 2025, the worst between the old enemies in decades. Citing his role in easing tensions between neighboring countries, Pakistan recommended Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Meanwhile, the American president has always praised Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir on multiple occasions.
