Washington, May 10 : US President Barack Obama spoke Monday with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India, whose neighbor and arch-rival Pakistan is smarting from a US commando raid that killed Osama bin Laden a week ago.
The pair spoke discussed the “successful American action” against the Al Qaeda leader and reviewed progress on initiatives launched when Obama visited India in November, the White House said.
“The two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to building a global, strategic partnership, including defense cooperation, and looked forward to the upcoming meetings of the Strategic Dialogue, the Homeland Security Dialogue, the Joint Space Working Group and the High-Technology Cooperation Group,” it added in a statement.
“The two leaders also discussed global and regional issues of mutual concern.” Washington has made Islamabad its ally in the fight against extremism, but Pakistan has long focused its intelligence and military assets on India. The two nuclear-armed countries have fought three wars since gaining their independence in 1947.
Pakistan is currently under pressure to explain how bin Laden — killed in a US raid on a town near Islamabad a week ago — managed to live in the country undetected for years.
India has already given its verdict, denouncing its South Asian neighbor as a terrorist “sanctuary” and renewing calls for Islamabad to arrest suspects behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
New Delhi says the 10 gunmen who attacked multiple targets in Mumbai, killing 166 people, were members of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group.
India suspended peace talks with Pakistan after the attacks. The dialogue was recently resumed but India has continued to criticize Pakistan for not doing enough to bring the alleged organizers to justice. – AFP
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