Terror killed Pakistani, Indian and Afghan children: US

WASHINGTON: The State Department on Friday provided a heartfelt and more humanist perspective on the outcomes of the ongoing conflicts in South Asia.

State Department Spokesman John Kirby wrapped the official and more conventional way of responses to questions in a deeply touching manner.

“There have been Indian children and Pakistani children and Afghan children that have been maimed and murdered at the hands of terrorists for many, many years — not just the last 15 years,” Kirby said replying to a questions about the conflicts and added, “There’s a heck of a lot of women without soldier husbands anymore, and widowers without wives anymore. The killing has gone on for long enough.”

The spokesperson was told that the leaders of Pakistan and India were not interested in resolving their issues because their families don’t get affected directly.

Kirby disagreed and said, “That is just not our view in talking to leaders across the spectrum of both governments. They do care.”

Emphasizing the need for encouraging both countries to continue dialogue, he said: “Obviously, there are still differences of opinion that exist between them, and we want them to work through those differences.”

Kirby continued: “That’s all we are asking, that’s all we are hoping, that’s all we are expecting from leaders in India and Pakistan to do as well. But we don’t believe for a minute that they don’t take the challenges before them seriously or the lives and security of their children.”

He also maintained that the US stance on the Kashmir issue had not changed either.

“We want this to be worked out between both sides — the issue of Kashmir. And generally, we obviously want to see the tensions that exist right now be brought down and for dialogue to take its place — meaningful dialogue to try to address these issues bilaterally between the countries,” Kirby said.

Asked if the administration would support the bill in the Congress and an online petition that the US should declare Pakistan a “terrorist state”, Kirby said, “I have not seen anything specifically about the bill, and obviously we don’t.”

Refusing to go into the details, Kirby said there was a common threat and common challenge in the region and the US will continue to work with Pakistan, Afghanistan and India.

“So we are going to continue to work with the governments in the region to try to address these common threats and challenges, and we have always said that more can be done about the safe havens and that’s — we’re going to, again, try to work as co-operatively as we can to that end,” he said.

—Originally published in The News