New Delhi: After literally fawning over Pakistan’s military and political leadership in the past year or so, the US today said its ties with Islamabad are not at the expense of ‘strategic alliance’ with India.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is here on a four-day visit to India, said: “India is one of our most important strategic partners in the world”. He was addressing a press briefing along-side External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
Asked about India being uneasy about the US-Pakistan closeness in the past year or so, Rubio said “I don’t view our relation with any country in the world as coming at the expense of our strategic alliance with India”.
On US Pakistan relations, he said: “We have relations and we work at the tactical level, with countries all over the world. So does India, and that’s what responsible nation states do”. In the past one year the relationship between US President Donald Trump and Pakistan’s Army Chief, Field Marshal General Asim Munir has left India rather flustered.
The dynamics of the Trump-Munir relationship meant Pakistan emerged as the central backchannel between Washington DC and Tehran during the US-Iran conflict.
Earlier in 2025, just weeks after Operation Sindoor Trump invited Field Marshal Munir to a private White House lunch. This marked the first time a US president hosted a Pakistani army chief without the accompaniment of Pakistan’s civilian political leadership.
The Pakistan Military officer also has secured direct access to the Oval Office and high-level US military ceremony attending the retirement ceremony of the Commander of US Central Command. Pakistan even offered US, access to local mining projects, rare earth elements in Balochistan.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif flattered Trump on the global stage, even nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize, effectively providing the political cover and narrative Trump desires for his regional peace initiatives.
