“There’s no zero-sum game here”, spokesman Mark Toner told a regular briefing at the State Department, in his response to a question about the recent remarks by Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi made during his three-day visit to Washington, earlier this week.
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He said apart from securing United States’ support for India’s entry into NSG (Nuclear Suppliers’ Group), a significant achievement has been recognition of India as a major defence partner by USA and its readiness to share defence technologies to a level commensurate with that of its closest allies and partners.
Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned to India after a highly productive 5 nation tour including US Obama administration christened his vision of Indo-US ties as “Modi Doctrine” and US asked Pakistan to ensure that its territory is not used for planning attacks in India.
The Indian premier also stressed that India is committed to helping rebuild a peaceful and stable Afghanistan, and said he considers terrorism the biggest threat in Afghanistan as well as elsewhere in South Asia.
Through this dialogue, the United States must impress upon Indian officials the need to strengthen protection for religious minorities, to uphold freedom of religion by ensuring justice is done in cases of religious violence, and to enact laws that protect whistleblowers and activists from official retribution, he said.
Speaker Ryan also went further that all his predecessors, hosting an official lunch on Capital Hill, home to U.S. congress, for Prime Minister Modi.
“Our bilateral relations with India and Pakistan are separate and stand on their own merits, and so I don’t think we it’s not prudent for us to view our security cooperation in the region in kind of a zero-sum game or zero-sum terms, rather”. “As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, I will continue to work to deepen and expand our partnership with India in support of our mutual economic and national security interests”, said Senator Kelly Ayotte. India is obviously the world’s largest democracy.
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“Underscoring that both India and the United States share the vision of peace and prosperity of the world, the Prime Minister said “globally, terrorism remains the biggest threat” and it must be fought at many levels” as the traditional tools of military, intelligence or diplomacy alone would not be able to win defeat it.
