Ties with India ‘global strategic partnership,’ not ‘zero sum game’ with Pak: US

By Arul Louis New York, March 4 : While describing the US engagement with India as a “global comprehensive strategic partnership,” the State Department has reiterated Washington’s policy of a de-hyphenated relationship with India and Pakistan saying it is “not a zero-sum.” Speaking of the US relations with the two neighbours, the US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price on Wednesday made a distinction between the global dimension of its partnership with New Delhi and its shared regional interests with Islamabad.
“When it comes to India, we have a global comprehensive strategic partnership,” he said.
The importance of the partnership has risen as the challenge from an increasingly hostile China has grown.
With Islamabad, “we have important shared interests in the region. And we will continue to work closely with the Pakistani authorities on those shared interests,” Price said.
The US needs Islamabad’s help to deal with the Taliban in Afghanistan if the President Joe Biden is to go ahead with the deal his predecessor Donald Trump made with the insurgent group to withdraw all US troops on May 1.