ISLAMABAD: The United States (US) saw a growing opportunity to expand its strategic relationship with Pakistan, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Saturday, emphasizing that the move was not aimed at undermining Washington’s longstanding ties with India.
Speaking to reporters aboard his flight to Doha, Rubio acknowledged that New Delhi had historically viewed US-Pakistan engagement with caution. But he stressed that Washington’s diplomatic approach aimed to work “pragmatically” with multiple partners at once.
“We know they’re concerned for obvious reasons because of the tensions that have existed between Pakistan and India historically,” Rubio said. “But, I think they have to understand we have to have relations with a lot of different countries.”
“We see an opportunity to expand our strategic relationship with Pakistan,” he added.
“Our job is to try to figure out how many countries we can find how we can work with on things of common interest.”
Rubio said US officials had been “fully aware of the challenges” posed by Pakistan’s tense rivalry with India but insisted that maintaining strong ties with one did not diminish the other.
“They [India] have some relationships with countries that we don’t have relationships with. So, it’s part of a mature, pragmatic foreign policy.”
Rubio said Washington had already begun working to rebuild ties with Islamabad before recent regional tensions prompted renewed dialogue.
“Even before that conflict had started, I had already reached out to them and said look, we are interested in rebuilding an alliance, a strategic partnership with you,” he said.
He noted that the US-Pakistan relationship had long involved counterterrorism cooperation but suggested that both sides were now exploring broader areas of collaboration.
“We’d like to expand it beyond that, if possible, and [we] understand that there’ll be some difficulties and some challenges,” Rubio said. “But I think it’s a very encouraging thing that that relationship has strengthened the way that it has.”
Rubio repeatedly stressed that the US approach was a balancing act among multiple major regional powers.
“We have to have relations with a lot of different countries,” he said. “That’s our job.”
The Secretary was traveling to Doha for continued coordination on the Middle East ceasefire process, which he acknowledged remained fragile. “Every night brings a new challenge,” he said, adding that sustaining progress would require “constant maintenance” and continued high-level engagement.
Rubio said he had just spoken with the Israeli Prime Minister before boarding and noted that more US officials would be deployed in the region in the coming days.
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