A day after Pakistan army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir threatened to use nuclear weapons against India during an event in the United States (US), a top American official on Tuesday (local time) said Washington's relationship with New Delhi and Islamabad "remains unchanged - good" and their diplomats are "committed to both nations".
The statement was made by US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce at a press conference in Washington, DC.
During the presser, Bruce said the US was worried that the four-day military conflict between India and Pakistan in May, and feared that the skirmish "could have developed into something quite horrible". She further said US President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio had immediately shown their concerns in addressing the issue.
"We described the nature of the phone calls and the work we did to stop the attacks, bringing the parties together to create something enduring," she said. "It's a very proud moment that Secretary Rubio, Vice President Vance and the top leaders in this nation were involved in stopping that potential catastrophe."
'US will promote a future that's beneficial'
Bruce also spoke about the US-Pakistan counter terrorism dialogue and said Washington is working to promote a future that is beneficial to the region and the world.
"The United States and Pakistan reaffirmed their shared commitment to combat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations during the latest rounds of talks in Islamabad, the US and Pakistan discussed ways to enhance cooperation to counter terrorist threats," she said.
Tensions between India, US rise
Bruce's remarks come at a time when tensions have increased between India and the US after President Donald Trump imposed an initial 25 per cent tariff and then an additional 25 per cent levy on Indian products for New Delhi's decision to buy Russian oil.
Amid all this, it seems the closeness between Washington and Islamabad is also increasing, with Munir visiting the US for the second time in two months. During his visit, Munir issued a nuclear threat to India, saying his country will "take half the world down with" them if they think they are going down.
India, however, has slammed Munir for his nuclear threat and called Pakistan an 'irresponsible' state. "India has already made it clear that it will not give in to nuclear blackmail," said the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in a statement.
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