U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to South Asia this week has been filled with diplomatic meetings, but his motorcade’s struggle with monsoon downpours and an off-the-cuff remark about terrorism may be garnering more attention.
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Kerry, who landed in the capital at 8 pm, was on his way to his hotel in Chanakyapuri when his convoy got stuck in a traffic snarl near Teen Murti Marg.
Kerry, on his fourth trip to India, began meetings with ministers and senior officials, discussions that are expected to include war-torn Afghanistan and tensions with rival Pakistan.
The US and India have set an ambitious goal of increasing annual trade to around $500 billion. The two countries are also looking to improve their defense relationship after recently signing an agreement in Washington.
Kerry is on a three-day visit to India.
The first S&CD was held on September 22, 2015 in the US.
He said, “The United States continues to support all efforts to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai and Pathankot attacks to justice”. “Terror is terror no matter where it comes from, (or) who carries it out”. Kashmir is at the centre of a decades-old rivalry between nuclear-armed Pakistan and India. “They also must not act as sanctuaries and safe havens for terrorist organizations”.
USA officials pointed out Pakistan has taken efforts to curb terrorism in the past few months. India wants to emerge as a major service provider center of the globe.
Referring to the strategic dialogue, Kerry said, “In both sectors, security and economics, we have room to be able to further grow, and to expand our two-way trade and investment, but also to resolve our security problems in doing that”.
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India and the U.S. this week sealed a deal to share each other military bases for fix and resupplies.
