India Seen as a Much Closer US Partner

Mr Michael Kugelman, a Washington-based South Asia analyst and writer for Foreign Policy magazine, said India is now a much closer US partner than Pakistan.

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FROM A13 Mr Michael Kugelman, a Washington-based South Asia analyst and writer for Foreign Policy magazine, said India is now a much closer US partner than Pakistan.

"This may worry Islamabad that if India retaliates militarily, the US may sympathize with its counter-terrorism imperatives and not try to stand in the way," Mr Kugelman told Reuters.

He also said that given Washington's involvement and ongoing diplomatic efforts in Russia's war in Ukraine and Israel's war in Gaza, the Trump administration is "dealing with a lot on its global plate" and may leave India and Pakistan on their own, at least in the early days of the tensions.

Mr Hussain Haqqani, a former Pakistan ambassador to the US and a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute think-tank, also said that Washington seemed to have no appetite to calm the situation at this moment.