WASHINGTON: The United States on Friday plans a public show of support for war partner Pakistan including potential new military aid, as it tries to strike a balance with its growing ties to India.Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday will lead a third and final day of a "strategic dialogue" with Pakistan, an initiative by President Barack Obama's administration to demonstrate long-term assistance.
Clinton on Thursday joined the talks, which have covered issues from energy assistance to flood relief. But US officials said that the talks were also looking at military equipment, a key issue for Pakistan's powerful army.
The United States last year committed to a five-year, 7.5-billion-dollar package to build roads, schools and democratic institutions in Pakistan. The Pakistani military initially criticized the aid as foreign interference.
The aid package and its terms may be announced today.
Clinton said in March that the United States would study a multi-year security assistance package for Pakistan. But any announcement Friday threatens to overshadow a trip next month by President Barack Obama to India.
State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said that the United States did not see relations between the two nations, which have fought three full-fledged wars since independence in 1947, as a "zero-sum game."
"Just as we are committed to our relationship with Pakistan and we'll help as an ally and friend provide assistance to Pakistan, we are also a committed ally and friend of India, and we are in discussions with India about assistance," Crowley told reporters.
"I think this is all part of our efforts to try to achieve peace, security and stability in a very important part of the world," he said.
The Obama administration has voiced hope that India, the world's largest democracy, will become one of the top global partners of the United States in the decades to come.
