US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday reacted to the country's growing engagement with Pakistan alongside a strategic partnership with India, saying its relations with any country do not come at the expense of its ties with New Delhi.
Rubio said this while responding to a question on US-Pakistan relations and Islamabad's military support for a terrorist group at a joint press briefing with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar during the former's visit to New Delhi for high-level talks.
He said, "We have relations, and we work at the tactical level, for example, and in many other ways with countries all over the world. So does India. That's what the responsible nation-states do".
He added, "But I don't view our relation with any country in the world as coming at the expense of our strategic alliance with India for the reasons I've outlined here already earlier today."
On the military aspect, Rubio declined to comment, saying there were many things he did not agree with.
"That was a long question and said a lot of things I don't agree with, and I'm not going to speak to the military," he said.
During the briefing at Hyderabad House in New Delhi, Rubio stressed the strength and continuity in the relations between India and the US. He also rejected suggestions that the ties required revival or resetting.
Rubio said that the relations between India and the US "have not lost momentum", but would emerge "much stronger in the coming years" instead.
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The US Secretary of State said, "The list of issues that we work together with India on, the breadth of scope of them, is what highlights the fact that India is an important strategic partner in the United States, one of our most important strategic partners in the world."
On the bilateral trade agreement between the two countries, Rubio expressed optimism, saying that the US hopes the deal will be concluded soon.