US Ensuring Military Aid to Pak Is Not Directed against India: Blake

Obama administration has said that the US is taking proper measures to make sure that military aid granted to Pakistan is not directed against India, said media reports.

During last week’s Indo-US Strategic Dialogue, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Indian foreign minister SM Krishna discussed this issue.

“I think they (India) understand that we are trying to build up Pakistan’s counter-insurgency capabilities and we are seeking end use assurances to insure that the weapons that are provided will not be used against India,” Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake was quoted as saying while answering a query at a State Department Blog Forum.

It’s for the first time that US has publically stated that it is taking steps to ensure that its military aid to Pakistan will not be used against India.

One of their major concerns, Indian leaders effectively conveyed this to their American counterparts in the last week’s strategic dialogue held at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department.

Blake said that India and the US have a shared interest in stabilisation of Pakistan; and New Delhi supports the US’ Pak policy, reports said.

“They believe we have a shared interest in helping to stabilise Pakistan, and they’re certainly well aware that a spiral down would not be in India’s interests,” Blake was quoted as saying during a conversation on a State Department blog Forum.

Participating in the blog forum, Teresita Schaffer, director of South Asia Program at the CSIS – a Washington- based think-tank, said that the US, India, and Pakistan share an interest in seeing Pakistan as a state emerge more strongly from this terrible time that it is going through.

“This will not mean that India and Pakistan agree on a whole lot of stuff. But underneath it all, there is this very important interest in common that we shouldn’t forget about,” she was quoted as saying.

(Based on internet reports)