US expresses regret to Pakistan over leaked cables

WASHINGTON - In a balancing act, the US has said that it is building a strategic relationships with both India and Pakistan because they both will have an impact on future course of developments in the world, and expressed its regret to Islamabad over the release of classified diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks.

“We are building strategic relationships with both countries because they are important not just to our interests, but most importantly as you chart the future course of developments in the world, Pakistan and India will have an impact on those developments,” State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters Thursday.

His comments came in response to a question asking him to categorise India and Pakistan in the context of a remark by Defence Secretary Robert Gates that nations work with the US for three reasons: out of fear, out of respect, and out of need.

Asked if WikiLeaks documents will create any sort of confusion or increased tension between Pakistan and the US Army, Crowley again said: “We are building a strategic partnership with Pakistan, and that’s manifest in the strategic dialogue that we’ve had on multiple occasions this year in Washington and in Islamabad.”

“Our partnership has multiple dimensions. One, on the military side, there is extensive cooperation between the Pakistani military and the United States military, and we would expect that to continue.”

Crowley also mentioned that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had called Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari to “regret the fact that cables were released”.

WikiLeaks Sunday released more than 250,000 secret US documents, which exposed years of diplomatic communications and provided candid assessments of world leaders.

Denying that Washington interferes in Pakistani politics, Crowley said the “United States very clearly supported a return to civilian government in Pakistan” but Washington “didn’t dictate who the candidates were. The United States government didn’t dictate the result.”

“It is not for the United States to dictate who will be a president, prime minister, or a foreign minister,” Crowley said. “These are choices made within these countries, and we will work with the leaders that are chosen by the people of Pakistan.”

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)