Kerry said Pakistan had made progress in the fight against extremism in recent months, but urged Islamabad to push harder against militants hiding within its borders.
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“My hope is that Pakistan as a country is not isolated by this but is encouraged by this”, Kerry said.
“We will not and we can not make distinctions between good and bad terrorists”. Addressing a packed house at the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi, Kerry said, “We have to respect the rights of all our citizens irrespective of creed and allow them to protest in peace without fear that they will be jailed”.
India has accused Pakistan of stoking a new bout of unrest in Kashmir, the troubled Himalayan region which has been divided between the two countries since independence in 1947 and is claimed in full by both.
One research scholar even asked what United States wants India to do better, to which Kerry diplomatically said that while India and U.S. have a great relationship, it wished that India would find an alternative to coal.
Kerry said the USA “stands with India against all terrorism no matter where it comes from”.
On Tuesday, the two countries agreed to new steps, including USA financing for an improved power grid and a cybersecurity framework.
Kerry said the United States had made it clear to Islamabad that it needs to act against groups such as Haqqani network and Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Terrorism, more specifically emanating from Pakistan, figured prominently during talks between the two leaders. There is a concept of good terrorist and bad terrorist.
“The Indian External Affairs Minister said “there is a scope to do a lot more” while underlining the importance of deepening cooperation in counter-terrorism”. Noting that ties between the two countries in the sphere of defence, energy and security had deepened, Kerry said the United States was looking forward to finalise a cyber framework that will help the two countries protect from new global cyber threats.
India and the U.S. on Wednesday called upon Pakistan to bring the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks and the 2016 Pathankot airbase attack to justice. “We will intensify intelligence sharing”. Why are the State Department and the Pentagon not on the same page?”, U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said, “Well, I – I’m not going to just presume that your implication is correct there, that we’re not.
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In 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama had come to decision to raise India-US meeting into a Strategic and Commercial Dialogue, reflecting the significance of the trade and economic ties between the two sides. At a time when countries seek to address issues through use of force, US-India have upheld the rule-based global order.
