Staunchly supporting India's counter-terrorism efforts and strongly condemning terrorism emanating from anywhere in India, Defense Secretary Dr. Ashton Carter on Tuesday said the U.S. too has suffered from terrorism emanating from Pakistan.
"We too have suffered from terrorism emanating from territory of Pakistan, most significantly in Afghanistan, and who do it should be brought to justice and brought to account," said Carter while addressing a joint press conference with Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar after holding bilateral talks here.
Explaining the U.S relations with Pakistan, he said, "We have a relationship with Pakistan which we value and we also pursue it in our interest. We have no intention in conflict between India and Pakistan in anyway."
"Our relationship to Pakistan is principally directed to counter terrorism and that includes the things we do with the Pakistani military. Our principal interest is in working with Pakistan on terrorism and I think that's the concern India shares as well," he said.
Maintaining that the U.S. overall policy towards India was completely different from the way it was decades ago, Carter said, "It is a thing of the past for us to think about India only in relation to Pakistan or Pakistan in only relation to India. That's the distant past."
"We have a different vision of India; if describing, one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century in which all sorts of things are going to be possible in the future as we share many interests," said Carter while dispelling apprehensions in India over the U.S. offer to sell F-16 fighter aircraft to Pakistan.
"And one thing I could add is the more we work with Indian military on projects of the crime we discussed today, and technology to help protect our two societies from terrorism. The American position on terrorism affecting India is clear and unequivocal," he added.