Former US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (File Photo: Reuters)
The US must respect India's right to defend itself and should maintain a zero-tolerance policy towards terrorism, former US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Saturday, while describing Washington's ties with New Delhi and Islamabad as "fundamentally different".
"India is a global force," Blinken said, adding that the relationship and shared interests between Washington and New Delhi were "really global in nature".
In contrast, the US relationship with Pakistan is "regional", he said during a conversation with Jawed Ashraf, chairman of the India Trade Promotion Organisation, at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit 2026 in New Delhi.
"The relations with Pakistan are regional, and there are still going to be important areas where we need to do things with them, particularly, for example, when it comes to counter-terrorism, but these are fundamentally different relationships," he said.