The US has made it clear that it is not directly involved in talks between India and Pakistan but encourages them to resume their peace dialogue, even as it said it wants Islamabad to rein in terror outfits like Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
"The pace and the scope and the timing of the dialogue is really up to the two countries to determine. As a friend of both of those countries, the United States, again, welcomes those dialogues, but we're not directly involved in the talks in any way," Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Robert Blake, said.
He said that one of the most important things to work on is the issue of terrorism because it threatens not only both India and Pakistan, but also the US.
"And, we think that a group like LeT, which is widely believed to have been responsible for the bombings in Mumbai, is a terrorist group based in Pakistan that has increasingly global ambitions and global scope, and so it's in the interest of Pakistan to rein in the activities of LeT," Blake told popular Japanese newspaper 'Asahi Shimbun'.
Referring to the February 25 Foreign Secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan in New Delhi, he termed the parleys as important.
"I think it's significant that this is the first time that either of those countries have had talks in either Islamabad or New Delhi, since the November, 2008 bombings in Mumbai. So that, in itself, is important, and I think the dialogue between two friends of the United States is something that we very much welcome," he said.
Blake also welcomed the statement of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that Pakistan should not consider India a threat. "We've welcomed the decision by Pakistan to redeploy troops away from the Indian border to the principal area of focus, which is, as you say, along the border areas between Pakistan and Afghanistan," he said.
"So, we hope that that will continue to be the focus of the Pakistani military and therefore, as you say, peace between the two countries of India and Pakistan is very essential to that effort in the border areas," he said.
In terms of the talks between India and Pakistan, "it will really be up to those two governments to determine the pace and the scope of those talks, and that's something that we will certainly encourage both of our friends to do. But, the ultimate decision will be theirs," Blake said.
Noting that the US has successfully de-hyphenated its relations with India and Pakistan, Blake said they are both extremely important to America, but very, very different, as well.
"And, right now, I think you've seen the United States does not only place an important focus on India, but also on Pakistan. As we look at the whole strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan, I think everybody understands that we are never going to be able to have success in stabilising Afghanistan without the full participation of Pakistan," he said.
Observing that India is going to be an increasingly important factor in the 21st century, Blake said the Obama Administration believes the Indo-US ties would turn out to be the most consequential of the US foreign policy.
