U.S. bats for Indo-Pak bilateral engagement to resolve issues

Published : Jul 24, 2021 17:23 IST

U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken is slated to visit India next week.

U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken is slated to visit India next week.

The United States has once again batted for engagement between India and Pakistan to resolve bilateral issues. The U.S. has said that it encourages the building of a more stable relationship going forward, between the two nuclear-armed countries.

"With regard to India and Pakistan, I would just note that we strongly believe that India and Pakistan's issues are ones for them to work out between themselves," said Dean Thompson, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, speaking to mediapersons. "We are pleased to see that the ceasefire that went into place earlier this year has remained intact, and we certainly always encourage them to continue their efforts to find ways to build a more stable relationship going forward," Thompson said.

Ever since the Pulwama attack in February 2019, relations between India and Pakistan have deteriorated. When New Delhi abrogated the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, granted under Article 370, on August 5, 2019, and bifurcated the State into two Union Territories, relations nosedived further with Pakistan raising the Kashmir issue on international platforms. India and Pakistan in February signed a ceasefire agreement.

On Afghanistan, the Acting Assistant Secretary said the U.S. wanted all stakeholder countries to have a shared interest in a stable and secure Afghanistan. Secretary of State Tony Blinken is slated to visit India next week, where Afghanistan is slated to be a major point of deliberation.

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