US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, while drawing the difference between the relations between Pakistan and Washington and its strategic partnership with India, said that America’s relations with any country are not built at the cost of its alliance with New Delhi. This statement of Rubio came during the joint media briefing with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar after high level talks in New Delhi.

The US Foreign Minister was answering a question on US-Pakistan relations and allegations related to military support to terrorist groups. While declining to speak directly on military matters, he stressed that the country regularly interacts with many countries at the tactical level.

We work with other countries at tactical level- Rubio

Rubio said, ‘We have relationships and we work with countries around the world at the tactical level, for example, and in many other ways. India also does the same. This is what responsible countries do.

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He further said, ‘But I do not see our relationship with any country in the world at the expense of our strategic alliance with India, for the reasons I have already explained here today.’

Will not talk about military related aspects: Rubio

Rubio also indicated that he would not discuss in depth the military-related aspects raised in the question. He said, ‘It was a long question and many such things were said in it with which I do not agree and I am not going to talk to the military.’

Marco Rubio has repeatedly stressed the strength and continuity of India-US relations and rejected the notion that the relationship needs a reboot or reset. He said that the warmth of relations between the two countries has not cooled down, rather it will become even stronger in the coming years.

India one of America’s most strategic partners: Marco Rubio

The US Secretary of State also expressed hope regarding the long pending Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) and said that Washington hopes that this deal will be completed soon. Rubio further said that India and America are together strategically on almost all major global issues. He described India as one of America’s most important strategic partners across the world.

India is an important strategic partner of America: Marco

Rubio said, ‘Strategic partnership is when as two countries you have common interests and you work together strategically to solve those problems.’ He said, ‘The breadth of issues on which we work together with India shows that India is an important strategic partner of the United States, one of our most important strategic partners in the world.’