Washington DC [US], December 11 (ANI): Dhruva Jaishankar, Executive Director of Observer Research Foundation America, said Washington’s renewed engagement with Pakistan’s military leadership is a major challenge for India-US relations.
Jaishankar made the remarks during a House Foreign Affairs South and Central Asia Subcommittee hearing titled “The US-India Strategic Partnership: Securing a Free and Open Indo-Pacific.” He warned that Pakistan has a long, well-documented record of using non-state terrorist proxies against India and that third-party mediation has often enabled Pakistan’s adventurism. “The United States has pursued a policy of de-hyphenation between India and Pakistan, engaging with both but minimising involvement in their disputes,” Jaishankar said, adding that substantial cooperation between Washington and New Delhi remains possible if differences over trade and Pakistan are managed successfully.
His comments come as the US announced a major investment to boost mining in Pakistan’s Balochistan province. The US Export-Import Bank (EXIM) on Wednesday approved USD 1.25 billion in financing for the Reko Diq critical minerals project.
Sharing a video on X, Charge d’Affaires ad interim at the US Embassy in Islamabad Natalie A. Baker said the Trump administration made such commercial deals central to its diplomatic approach. “I’m pleased to highlight that the US Export-Import Bank recently approved financing of USD 1.25 billion to support the mining of critical minerals at Reko Diq in Pakistan,” she said.
Baker added that EXIM’s financing would support “up to USD 2 billion in high-quality US mining equipment and services needed to build and operate the Reko Diq mine, along with creating an estimated 6,000 jobs in the US and 7,500 jobs in Balochistan, Pakistan.” She described Reko Diq as a model project that would benefit “US exporters, as well as local Pakistani communities and partners, by bringing employment and prosperity to both our nations,” and reiterated that the Trump administration places deals like this at the center of American diplomacy.
The US Embassy in Islamabad also posted that the commitment “will drive economic growth in Balochistan,” calling the project a “game-changer for US businesses and local Pakistani communities.”
These moves follow broader economic outreach from Washington to Islamabad. In July, former President Donald Trump announced a separate trade initiative with Pakistan to develop its oil reserves, saying on Truth Social that the US and Pakistan would work together on Pakistan’s “massive Oil Reserves” and that an oil company was being chosen to lead the partnership. Trump added, “Who knows, maybe they’ll be selling Oil to India someday!” He made that announcement hours after imposing 25 per cent tariffs and other penalties on India.
Earlier this year, following the May conflict triggered by the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people and India’s subsequent Operation Sindoor, Trump hosted Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir at the White House for lunch, praising him for preventing further escalation. Munir later visited the US again in August and, according to Pakistan media outlets including ARY News and The Dawn, told a Pakistani-American audience in Tampa, Florida, “We will wait for India to build a dam, and when they do so, we will destroy it.” He also reiterated Pakistan’s longstanding stance on Kashmir, calling it Pakistan’s “jugular vein” and asserting it was not India’s internal matter.
India rejected Munir’s comments. At a media briefing on April 17, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal dismissed the claims as baseless, saying, “How can anything foreign be in a jugular vein? This is a union territory of India. Its only relationship with Pakistan is the vacation of illegally occupied territories by that country…”
Pakistan had nominated the US President for the Nobel Peace Prize, citing his “decisive diplomatic intervention and pivotal leadership” during the May conflict. Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, at the United Nations General Assembly, lauded Trump as a “man of peace” and also nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize for allegedly brokering a ceasefire between India and Pakistan. India, however, notes that a cessation of hostilities occurred only after the Pakistani Army’s Director General of Military Operations contacted his Indian counterpart. (ANI)
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