By NNN-APP,
Washington : The United States seeks to foster ties with Pakistan, China and India in the region and the Indian prime minister’s current visit to Washington should not be read as diminution of any other country’s importance, America’s special envoy for the region, Richard Holbrooke said Monday.
“We seek to improve relations with Pakistan, we seek to improve our relations with China, we seek to improve our relations with India—this is not a zero sum game, every country beneifts from improvement in the area” he said at a Sate Department briefing as Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh prepared to hold talks with President Barack Obama.
He said the Americans are delighted to have Indian prime minister paying first state visit to Washington under the Obama Administration.
“No one in Pakistan and no one in any other country should read this in any way as diminution of the importance we attach to them.”
Holbrooke cited Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to Pakistan last month, saying the United States and Pakistan will forge a deeper and genuine partnership as sovereign countries.
He said Secretary Clinton’s uprading the strategic dialogue to level of Secretary reflects United States’s desire to have close ties with Pakistan.
Washington, he said in reply to a question, is consulting Pakistan on its strategy for Afghanistan, adding that no other country is closely related to Afghanistan than Pakistan.