“The U.S. support to strengthen Pakistan military has only strengthened those elements that hope to wrest Kashmir from India through force,” he said.
“The U.S must be modest about its ability to defuse tensions between the two countries,” said Lisa Curtis, Senior Research Fellow, Asian Studies Center at the Heritage Foundation, one of the lead authors of the report. “The U.S. sets a trap for itself when it tries to balance its policies towards India and Pakistan. The U.S. should not view relations with India and Pakistan as a zero-sum proposition. I think the key is to maintain robust relations with both separately, based on the merits of each bilateral relationship,” said Ms. Curtis.
She added that the U.S. pursuit of even-handed policies in South Asia must not lead to a compromise in its anti-terrorism principles.
Ubaid – Ur-Rehman Nizamani, a senior diplomat at the Pakistani mission in Washington, said during the discussion that his country welcomed the report’s recommendation that the U.S. must treat India and Pakistan independent of each other, while objecting to what he termed other “sweeping conclusions.”
“Our security concerns are being portrayed as paranoia.”
