Pathankot incident attempt to undermine Pak-India talks: US State Department

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The United States said on Friday, it would like Pakistan and India to continue efforts for peace saying the attack on the Indian airbase in Pathankot was an attempt to undermine talks between the two neighbors.

At a briefing, the US State Department spokesman John Kirby said that the United States want Pakistan and India to continue to have a dialogue and to continue to look for ways to cooperate against the common threat of terrorism.

He said the recent conversation between Indian Prime Minister Narandera Modi and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was a welcome sign in which both condemned the terrorist attack on the air base and expressed their shared commitment to fighting terrorism.

“That was not an insignificant discussion that they had, nor was it an insignificant commitment that they made, and it’s exactly the kind of commitment that we want them to continue to make,” spokesman Kirby said.

Referring to the attack early this month, he said, “it should come as a shock to no one that terrorist groups will try to undermine those sorts of efforts by conducting spectacular attacks”  to do exactly that, to sow fear, and to hopefully sow doubt in the minds of national leaders towards a level of cooperation that can have a real ” a practical effect”.

He said the United States was encouraged by the dialogue that has recently taken place between India and Pakistan and “we’d like to see that continue”.