Former US secretary of state Antony Blinken said on Saturday that Washington’s relationships with New Delhi and Islamabad are fundamentally different in nature, describing India as a “global force”.
Speaking at the 24th Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, Blinken said the US-India relationship — its shared interests and the work the two countries do together — is “really global in nature”, and that this holds even for the areas where the two sides differ.
Ties with Pakistan, by contrast, are regional, he said, while noting that important areas of cooperation remain, including counterterrorism.
Blinken, who served as the top US diplomat under President Joe Biden, was in conversation with Jawed Ashraf, chairman of the Indian Trade Promotion Organisation.
He also acknowledged India’s right to self-defence in the face of threats from terrorists, while backing diplomatic efforts in the event of an escalation.
The comments came against the backdrop of a perceived closeness between President Donald Trump’s administration and Pakistan’s leadership. After Trump claimed he brokered a ceasefire between India and Pakistan following four days of fighting in May 2025, Islamabad backed Trump for the Nobel peace prize. New Delhi maintained that Islamabad had requested the ceasefire, overwhelmed by an Indian offensive.
