Following India’s announcement of Indian Army carrying out surgical strikes along the Line of Control (LoC), the US doubled down its support for India and reasserted that Pakistan take actions against terrorism in its own territory.
But what left unsaid by the White House also bears a lot of significance.
Although there is no credible evidence of whether the US was informed about the surgical strike by India or had a role in it, White House did not make any statement to deny this claim either.
However, State Department spokesperson John Kirby said that an attack like the one in Uri, Kashmir “obviously” shoot up tensions, according to a report by NDTV.
Mr Kirby also called for de-escalation of tension between the two countries.
“We’ve seen those reports (of the surgical strikes). We’re following the situation closely as I think you can understand. We also understand that the Indian and Pakistani militaries have been in communication…Our message to both sides is the same, to encourage them to increase communication to deal with this threat and avoid steps that escalates the tension,” he said.
There is very well a strong view in Washington that this comment is a message to Islamabad not to retaliate. Pakistan is not getting much sympathy in the US, as the lawmakers of the court strongly condemns its support of terrorism and a bill proposing that the country be labelled a terror state.
For the first time the White house and the State Department are showing, even if symbolically, that they are willing to take a side.
Sourced from agencies, Feature image courtesy: indianexpress.com
