Obama's India visit important for peace in S Asia: Holbrooke

Washington, Oct 30 (PTI) Obama Administration's point
man for Afghanistan and Pakistan has said that the next week's
India visit of the US president is not only important for
strengthening the bilateral ties but also for the peace in
South Asia.
"When President (Barack) Obama goes to New Delhi, in
what will be a very important trip to strengthen US-Indian
ties, that is not at the expense of Pakistan or Afghanistan.
"We work with all three countries for peace and stability in
South Asia," Special US Representative for Afghanistan and
Pakistan Richard Holbrooke told reporters here ahead of the
visit.
"So you have a picture here of continuous engagement
by the United States in these three countries, so different in
culture and economic development and history, but living in a
common strategic area, where actions in any one of the three
affect the other two," he said.
"The United States has good bilateral relations with
Kabul, with Islamabad, and with New Delhi. And we want to be
sure that everyone understands that when we pay attention to
one country we're not diminishing our support for the others.
When we have a Strategic Dialogue with Pakistan, that
is not diminishing our relationships with its neighbours,"
said Holbrooke.
"I can assure you that Afghanistan, India, Pakistan
being three countries with all of which we have good
relations, all of which we want to improve relations with and
which we fully take into account the effect of our actions on
one on the other’s is the underlying principle with which our
government approaches our policy," Holbrooke said in response
to a question.