Clinton lauds Pak-India dialogue, hopes India will support Pakistani anti-terror efforts

Applauding the resumption of dialogue between Pakistan and India, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Wednesday has voiced the hope that New Delhi would support the Pakistani anti-terrorism efforts. Of course, we believe that India and Pakistan actually face a number of common challenges, and we welcome a dialogue between them, she said addressing a meeting of the US-India Business Council.
As we have said before, the pace, scope and character of that dialogue is something that Indian and Pakistani leaders will decide on their own terms and in their own time, she stated a day after Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh decided to resume bilateral talks at the level of foreign secretaries. The chief U.S. diplomat acknowledged Islamabads efforts against terrorism on its soil. But as Pakistan now works to take on the challenge of terrorists in its own country, I am confident that India as well as the United States will support those efforts. The State Department, earlier, said Washington always welcomes better relations between the two South Asian nuclear powers. A resumption of such high-level engagement in the aftermath of the November Mumbai attacks is encouraging. We have said before that India and Pakistan need to continue their dialogue to find joint solutions against terrorism and to promote regional stability, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said. In her speech, Clinton observed that the United States and India should expand their broader security relationship and increase cooperation on counterterrorism and intelligence sharing. As you know, America faced an extraordinary challenge ourselves after 9/11: how to organize as a government and a people to better prevent and prepare for future attacks. India faces that same terrible challenge, and the president and I are committed to working with India in whatever way is appropriate to enhance Indias ability to protect itself. The two countries, she stressed, should also work to realize a vision of a nuclear-free world. The civil nuclear agreement helped us get over our defining disagreement, and I believe it can and should also serve as the foundation of a productive partnership on nonproliferation.
We have a common interest in creating a stable, peaceful Afghanistan, where India is already providing $1.2 billion in assistance to facilitate reconstruction efforts. United States is committed to the task ahead in Afghanistan, and I hope India will continue its efforts there as well. She believed states should be awarded enhanced roles in international bodies not only on the basis of their power but whether they use that power constructively to advance the common good and address global problems.
India, she remarked, already is a major player on the world stage, and we will look to cooperate with New Delhi as it shoulders the responsibilities that accompany its new position of global leadership.
Clinton, in her speech to the Business Council, did not touch on the contentious Kashmir dispute that has been at the heart of Pakistan-India tensions in the last six decades. However, during a visit to New Delhi last week, Undersecretary of State William Burns, made it clear that the U.S. administration stands for taking into account the wishes of the Kashmiri people in any settlement of the question. The Obama administration kept a low profile on efforts towards improving the relations between the two historicaly rivaling neighbors due to long Indian elections process and sent Burns soon after the ruling Congress party regained power in New Delhi. Between 2004 and 2008, the two South Asian powers had considerably ratcheted down their tensions as they took a series of confidence building measures. According to some accounts, they had even made significant strides towards settlement of the longstanding Jammu and Kashmir dispute. But relations between the two sides nosedived when the terrorists attacks rocked Mumbai in late November 2008, which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants. Islamabad has demanded more authentic information of Indian authorities to firm up the basis for prosecution of any individual who may have operated from its soil. The composite dialogue begun about five years ago, between the two sides is aimed at resolving a number of outstanding disputes including six-decade old Kashmir question.