This Article is From Apr 10, 2009

America's stand on Pak worries India

Islamabad: US special envoy  Richard Holbrooke was in Islamabad, affirming America's support to Pakistan in the fight against the terror.

"The United States and Pakistan face a common strategic threat, a common enemy and a common challenge and therefore a common task," he said.

However, Pakistan gave a call for trust.

"We can only work together if we respect each other and we trust each other," Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said.

Holbrooke will hold talks in Delhi on Wednesday and his statements only add to Delhi's growing unease with the Obama administration's new focus on Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Indian officials feel that instead of holding Islamabad accountable, Washington has pledged more military assistance. America's insistence on India to resume the peace process with Pakistan to allow Islamabad to focus on the Western border is another irritant. New Delhi is also worried about India being asked to scale down its presence in Afghanistan.

"They have to treat us as the victims, but they are not," former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal said.

The diplomatic gains India had made after the Mumbai attacks, seem to have given way as the US now pushes its own interests in fighting terrorism.
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