US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that Washington’s efforts to rebuild its strategic partnership with Pakistan will “not come at the expense of India”.

Rubio’s comments come ahead of his meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, on the sidelines of the 47th ASEAN Summit. The two last met on the sidelines of the UNGA Summit in September.

“We’re fully aware of the challenges with regards to India and everything else, but our job is to create opportunities for partnerships wherever possible,” Rubio said, adding that the US and Pakistan had had “a long history of partnering on counter-terrorism”.

He said Washington was now looking to “expand it beyond that”, while acknowledging that “there’ll be some difficulties and challenges”.

Rubio emphasis

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