US slams terror, tacitly backs India

WASHINGTON: Pakistan is being blamed for the escalation of tensions in the Indian subcontinent. Its coddling of UN-designated terror groups and initiation of cross-border attacks on India are being seen by the Obama administration as the provocation — if not the justification — for New Delhi’s decision to conduct a onetime, demonstrative, surgical strike across the LoC.
Briefings at the White House and the State Department on Thursday left little doubt about which side the US is on, even as it counselled restraint in the region.
“We’ve repeatedly expressed our concerns regarding the danger that terrorism poses to the region... We continue to urge actions to combat and delegitimise terrorist groups like LeT and the Haqqani Network, JeM,” US state department spokesperson John Kirby said when asked about India’s actions.
Kirby confirmed that US secretary of state John Kerry had a talk with his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj, in which “he cautioned against any escalation in tensions”, while reiterating his “strong condemnation of the Uri attack”. While Islamabad saw the caution as being directed at India for its surgical strike, it turned out that the remark was directed at Pakistan for Uri. Talking about the attack, Kirby said, “Obviously, an attack like that escalates tensions.”
Islamabad was also at the receiving end of withering censure at the White House.
Although Obama’s spokesperson Josh Earnest was aware of the surgical strike, he chose not to condemn it — a task made easy by Pakistan’s denial of the operation — while referring at length to US NSA Susan Rice’s phone call to her Indian counterpart Ajit Doval.
A read-out of that phone call made it clear that Washington holds Islamabad responsible for the escalating tensions, with its identical reference to Pakistan’s support for UN- and US-designated terrorist groups and the demand for “actions to combat and de-legitimise” them.
Meanwhile, US envoy to India Richard Verma has rushed back to Delhi from Washington on account of the “very dynamic situation” that has arisen in the aftermath of the surgical strike. “He’s got a big job... he felt it was prudent to go back. We support that,” Kirby said when asked about Verma’s immediate departure from the US.