"Trump Threw Away India Ties For Family's Pakistan Deals": Ex-US Official

Former US National Security Advisor (NSA) Jake Sullivan has accused President Donald Trump of jeopardising America's ties with India to favour his family's business deals in Pakistan. The Biden-era official called Trump's move to sacrifice the Washington-New Delhi relationship a "huge strategic harm"  to the United States' own interests.

"On a bipartisan basis, going back decades, the United States has worked to build its relationship with India, the world's largest democracy-- a country that we should be aligned with on technology, talent and economics and so many other issues, and aligned with in dealing with the strategic threat from China," Sullivan said while speaking at MeidasTouch, a YouTube channel.

He noted that India and the US have been able to make "significant progress" in strengthening their ties before President Trump "threw it aside" to favour Pakistan. 

"Because of Pakistan's willingness to do business deals with the Trump family, Trump has thrown the India relationship over the side," the former US official said. 

Ties between India and the US have deteriorated in recent months, after the Trump administration started targeting India over its procurement of discounted crude oil from Russia. Interestingly, Washington has refrained from making similar criticisms of China or Europe, the largest importer of Russian crude oil and gas, respectively. Trump also started taking credit for the ceasefire between India and Pakistan following the recent military conflict, despite India's repeated denial.

The former NSA noted that Trump's move to sacrifice ties with New Delhi is a "huge strategic harm in its own right because a strong US-India relationship serves our interests." He noted that now every other country in the world cannot rely on the US and will look at the situation and said, "that could be us tomorrow".

"And that only reinforces your view that you've got to hedge against the United States," Sullivan said

"Our word should be our bond. We should be good for what we say. Our friends should be able to rely on us, and that has always been our strength. And what's happening with India right now has huge direct impacts. But it also has this reverberating impact across all our relationships and partnerships in the world," She added. 

US-Pakistan Ties

After years of diplomatic shunning, US-Pakistan ties saw warmth recently when Donald Trump welcomed Pakistan's army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, at the White House and discussed trade, economic development, and cryptocurrency.

Days later, in July, the Trump administration announced a trade deal with Pakistan and said Washington would help Islamabad develop its "massive oil reserves". At the same time, the US slapped 25 per cent tariffs on Indian goods.

But before everything, in April, World Liberty Financial Inc (WLFI), a cryptocurrency firm majority-owned by US President Donald Trump and his family, officially signed a series of deals with the Pakistan Crypto Council (PCC) to promote investment and innovation in the crypto industry.