Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama has said the United States should try to help resolve the lingering Kashmir dispute between Pakistan and India as part of efforts to address the problem of militancy in the region.
In an interview, he favoured the US facilitation toward fostering a better understanding between the two nuclear armed neighbours that have fought wars over the decades-old Kashmir question in the past but are now engaged in a peace process.
“We should probably try to facilitate a better understanding between Pakistan and India and try to resolve the Kashmir crisis so that they can stay focused not on India, but on the situation with those militants,” he told MSNBC.
Washington, he said, will respect democracy in Pakistan and pledged coherent cooperation with the democratic government in efforts to root out terrorism from the Afghan border region.
“The most important thing we’re going to have to do with respect to Afghanistan is actually deal with Pakistan. And we’ve got work with the newly-elected government there in a coherent way that says terrorism is now a threat to you. Extremism is a threat to you,” he added.
“And, we’ve got to say to the Pakistani people, we’re not just going to fund a dictator in order for us to feel comfortable with who we’re dealing with. We’re going to respect democracy. But, we do have expectations in terms of being a partner against terrorism,” the presidential candidate concluded.