Given the volatility in South Asia, in particular the uncertainty coming from Pakistan in the war on terrorism, US needs to shore up its relationship with India, a key Republican presidential candidate has said.
"Shoring up the relationship with India needs to happen yesterday, and I don't see movements in that regard. The region is a very volatile one," John Huntsman, Republican presidential candidate, told the CBS mews in an interview. "We have a good partner in India. We share common values. We share a democratic heritage. And we ought to shore up our intelligence-gathering capability and our military-to-military links with India and prepare for what could be a very rocky region," he said in response to a question.
America's bilateral relationship with Pakistan, he said, is a carry-over from the cold war. "It had the potential to, I think, be a good bilateral relationship. Today it's transactional, and that puts us in a bad position," he noted. "There is a very young demographic with 180 million people...They have nuclear weapons. They're in a very unstable neighborhood," he said. "It means that we have a very important opportunity to shore up our relationship with India.
It means we can shore up our dialogue with people within the region. This is probably the one relationship in the world, Greta, that should keep any American leader up at night because you do not have leadership in that country right now, and you have elements within the Pakistani government that practically have gone rogue," Huntsman said.
{{/usCountry}}It means we can shore up our dialogue with people within the region. This is probably the one relationship in the world, Greta, that should keep any American leader up at night because you do not have leadership in that country right now, and you have elements within the Pakistani government that practically have gone rogue," Huntsman said.
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