Tension with India disturbing Pak's focus on war on terror: US

Washington, Apr 22: The "deep historic distrust" between India and Pakistan was coming in the way of Islamabad focussing on war against terror, a top Obama Administration official has said and sought reduction in tension between the neighbours.

"The only way that you are going to give the Pakistani government and armed forces the confidence to shift their focus is to address some of those areas of tension to try to reduce tension between the countries," Under Secretary of Defence for Policy, Michele A Flournoy, said at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington-based think-tank.

She also called for developing confidence-building measures between the two countries "to allow the sort of breathing space that would allow the folks on the Pakistani side to turn their attention to some of the internal challenges they face." The "deep historic distrust" between India and Pakistan, was coming in the way of the latter focusing on fighting the war against terrorism, she insisted while speaking about the Obama Administration's new Afghan-Pak policy.

Flournoy, who co-chaired Afghanistan-Pakistan inter-agency policy review with US special envoy for the region Richard Holbrooke and former CIA official Bruce Riedel, was at the CSIS before joining the Obama Administration. PTI