Disappointed over the eleventh-hour cancellation of India-Pakistan talks, the United States has called for early resumption of dialogue between the two countries but has made it clear that it does not see any role for itself in the process.
“This is an issue for India and Pakistan to come together and to resolve, and we’ve been very clear about that,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said, reflecting the established American position that it is for New Delhi and Islamabad to determine the pace and scope of their dialogue process.
Asked if Washington sees any role for itself, Kirby commented: “What we’ve said, particularly with the tension in Kashmir, is that our position has not changed, that this is an issue that India and Pakistan need to resolve.”
“We want both nations to sit down and hammer out the issues between them. Some of them have to do with violent extremism and some of them don’t; we understand that. But these are issues that the two parties have got to work out,” Kirby said.
Stating that the US was encouraged by the constructive interaction earlier on between the leaders of the two countries in Russia, Kirby said: “We’re disappointed that the talks didn’t happen….We just encourage India and Pakistan to resume a formal dialogue soon.”
On terrorism, which had been flagged by India as the only issue for the NSA-level talks, the spokesman said: “Our position about terrorism and the threat that it continues to pose around the world remains the same, and the United States will stay committed to countering violent extremism using all the elements of national power and international cooperation that we can.”
Noting that tensions in the South Asia region are significant, Kirby said: “We believe it’s important for leaders of both countries to resume this dialogue and discussion and to try to come to some resolution.”
The State Department separately announced that Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal will be visiting New Delhi on August 26-27 for meetings with leaders of the Narendra Modi Government.
Her deliberations come ahead of next month’s US-India Strategic and Commercial Dialogue that will be held in Washington.