U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington’s relationship with Pakistan could help lower conflict risks affecting India, while arguing that U.S. ties with Islamabad would not weaken its relationship with New Delhi.
Rubio made the case in an interview with The Indian Express first published Oct. 20 and updated Oct. 21. Asked about Indian concerns over President Donald Trump’s ties with Pakistan’s military leadership, he said the United States did not view its relationship with another country as competing with India. “Our relationship with no country in the world, in any way, comes at the expense of our relationship with India,” he told the newspaper. Rubio also pointed to U.S. visits, cooperation and work on a trade deal as signs of Washington’s commitment to New Delhi.
He said continued contact with Pakistan could give Washington a channel to use its influence to reduce the risk of actions that might trigger a clash. Rubio presented that as a possible benefit of the relationship, not a guarantee that the United States could prevent conflict.
The interviewer raised concern that some in India saw the outreach as a return to the Nixon-Kissinger-era approach. Rubio rejected the comparison, saying the Cold War conditions and other dynamics of the 1970s no longer applied. “The world looks nothing like it did back then,” he told The Indian Express.
The comments followed an Oct. 20 meeting in Mumbai between Rubio and Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. The U.S. Department of State said they discussed trade, energy, technology and defense.
Rubio also told The Indian Express a trade agreement between the United States and India could be finalized within weeks. He said both sides still needed to settle the wording, making the timeline his forecast rather than an agreed deadline.
