WASHINGTON: The United States believes that a strong relationship between Pakistan and India is “absolutely critical” to achieving peace and stability in South Asia.

At a daily news briefing, a spokesperson for the US State Department, Mark Toner, also stressed the need for India and Pakistan to work together to defeat terrorists.

Also read: US urges India, Pakistan to resolve issues through dialogue

“We want to see better, stronger, closer counter-terrorism cooperation not only between the US and India but of all the countries in the region, including Pakistan,” he said.

“We all need to be on our guard. We all need to be vigilant. We all need to cooperate and share information and intelligence where we can … to prevent future attacks,” he said.

Mr Toner said the US wanted that the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attack, that left 166 people dead, to be brought to justice.

“President Obama stated the Mumbai perpetrator’s financiers, sponsors, must be held accountable for their crimes,” he said.

“We continue to follow the criminal proceedings closely, and urge additional actions to prevent such an attack from ever happening again. And recognise that this was a terrible tragedy for India.”

Published in Dawn, October 8th, 2015

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