WASHINGTON, March 26: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice defended a US decision to sell F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan and elaborated on US efforts to build ties with both India and Pakistan at once, in a lengthy interview published by The Washington Post on Saturday. Although Ms Rice discussed the new strategic approach with Islamabad and New Delhi in travels earlier this month, it was unveiled in the United States only Friday, by a US official who spoke on condition of anonymity. “What we’re trying to do is to solidify and extend relations with both India and Pakistan at a time when we have good relations with both of them, something that most people didn’t think could be done, and when they have improving relationships with one another,” Ms Rice told the Post.

“What we’re trying to do is break out of the notion that this is a hyphenated relationship somehow, that anything that happens that’s good for Pakistan has to be bad for India and vice versa.”

There is likely to be concern on both sides, Ms Rice noted, a day after Washington revealed plans for “a decisively broader strategic relationship” with India to help it become a major world power this century.

“What I talked about when I was in India was broadening and deepening our relationship for instance in defence cooperation, broadening and deepening our relationship in energy cooperation,” she said.

Asked if that included nuclear power plants, Ms Rice said, “we’re a step from that, certainly, but looking at their energy needs and trying to understand how they can be met.”—AFP