US not directly involved in Indo-Pak talks: Blake

The US has made it clear that it is not directly involved in talks between India and Pakistan, but encourages them to resume their peace dialogue, even as it said it wants Islamabad to rein in terror outfits like the Lashkar-e-Tayiba.

"The pace and the scope and the timing of the dialogue is really up to the two countries to determine. As a friend of both of those countries, the United States, again, welcomes those dialogues, but we're not directly involved in the talks in any way," Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Robert Blake, said.

He said that one of the most important things to work on is the issue of terrorism because it threatens not only both India and Pakistan, but also the US.

"And, we think that a group like Lashkar-e-Tayiba, which is widely believed to have been responsible for the bombings in Mumbai, is a terrorist group based in Pakistan that has increasingly global ambitions and global scope, and so it's in the interest of Pakistan to rein in the activities of the LeT,"

Blake told popular Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun.

Referring to the February 25 foreign secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan in New Delhi, he termed the parleys as important.

"I think it's significant that this is the first time that either of those countries have had talks in either Islamabad or New Delhi, since the November, 2008 bombings in Mumbai. So that, in itself, is important, and I think the dialogue between two friends of the United States is something that we very much welcome," he said.

Blake also welcomed the statement of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that Pakistan should not consider India a threat.

"We've welcomed the decision by Pakistan to redeploy troops away from the Indian border to the principal area of focus, which is, as you say, along the border areas between Pakistan and Afghanistan," he said.

"So, we hope that that will continue to be the focus of the Pakistani military and therefore, as you say, peace between the two countries of India and Pakistan is very essential to that effort in the border areas," he said.

In terms of the talks between India and Pakistan, "it will really be up to those two governments to determine the pace and the scope of those talks, and that's something that we will certainly encourage both of our friends to do.

But, the ultimate decision will be theirs," Blake said.

Noting that the US has successfully de-hyphenated its relations with India and Pakistan, Blake said they are both extremely important to America, but very, very different, as well.

"And, right now, I think you've seen the United States does not only place an important focus on India, but also on Pakistan. As we look at the whole strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan, I think everybody understands that we are never going to be able to have success in stabilising Afghanistan without the full participation of Pakistan," he said.

Observing that India is going to be an increasingly important factor in the 21st century, Blake said the Obama Administration believes the Indo-US ties would turn out to be the most consequential of the US foreign policy.

At the same time, Blake said the Obama Administration has also successfully de- hyphenated India and China.

"I think President Obama and Secretary Clinton really see that our relations with India are going to be one of the most consequential of US foreign policy in the 21st century," he said.

"So we see it as very much in our interest to try to capitalise on the converging values and interests that we have between the United States and India, and the strong people-to-people ties that we have with India ... to confront the challenges of the 21st century, be they global proliferation concerns or trying to complete the Doha Round of global trade negotiations, climate change," he said.

"We think that India is going to be an increasingly important factor in the 21 century, but also an increasingly important friend. So, it's very much in our interest to seize that opportunity now, and that's why you saw the president make prime minister (Manmohan) Singh the very first state visitor of the new administration.

"And that's why, I think, you're going to see the United States working very, very closely with India in the course of the Obama Administration," he said.

Blake said the Obama Administration is pursuing its relations with India on their own merits because it feels that this is just a significant opportunity not only to increase its bilateral relations but also to work with India on these big, global challenges that they face.

"We don't put it in the context of our relations with China, which we also greatly value, and, of course, China also will be one of the most important powers of the 21st century, and we have our own, separate partnership with China that is extremely important to the United States as well," Blake said.

"So, we try not to hyphenate those two (China and India). I mean, we are pursuing them in their own tracks, and we value both. But, we don't try to put our relations with either one of those countries in the context of our relations with the other," Blake said.

The state department official said Clinton would have a meeting with External Affairs Minister S M Krishna to hold the next phase of their strategic dialogue, sometime in late spring or early summer.

"And then, as you say, we expect the president will have the opportunity to visit India sometime later this year, but we don't yet know exactly when that will be," he said.