Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr are among the heroes of United States President Barack Obama, a senior Obama administration official has said. "Barack Obama, first African-American president and a student of those principles, identifies Gandhi's autobiography and Taylor Branch's terrific three-part biography of King, as works that helped shape him," Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake said.
Ahead of the crucial Indo-United States strategic dialogue, the Obama administration has said that counter-terrorism cooperation with India is a "very high priority" for it as it would help prevent Mumbai-type attacks in future.
Confirming rediff.com's scoop of October 15 on how United States officials wanted US President Barack Obama to endorse India's bid for permanent membership in the United States Security Council, advising him it could make his India visit truly historic, Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Robert Blake said Monday, that even though the President's announcement of support for India's candidacy during his address to Parliament came as a surprise to many people,
Just a week after President Barack Obama's endorsement for India's permanent membership in the UN Security Council, the US has said no breakthrough is expected "anytime soon" on the UNSC reforms.
Seeking to strike common ground with China on key matters related to South Asia, the US has said it wants Beijing to "coordinate more" with its efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat" Al-Qaeda.
Robert Blake says the United States wants to partner India on a range of global issues.
The US government has expressed its dissatisfaction over the progress made by Sri Lanka in rehabilitating the war-hit Tamils living in detainee camps and in reconciliating with political parties of Tamils and Muslims in the country.
It was Bharatiya Janata Party's turn yet again to be hit by Wikileaks cables with a US diplomat reporting that its senior leader Arun Jaitley had remarked to him that Hindu nationalism is an "opportunistic issue" for his party.
Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus enjoys great respect in the US for all of his work to help the poor in Bangladesh.
It is very much in the interest of India and United States to continue to engage with Pakistan, even if Islamabad has not taken enough steps to meet the demands of New Delhi about punishing those responsible for the Mumbai terror attacks, a Obama administration official has said. "It is very much in our interest and it is very much in the interest of India to continue to engage Pakistan," Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake said.
Noting that the country was on track to have the largest economy by 2050, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake said, "India is a rising giant whose influence is being felt not only in the Indian Ocean, but in the Americas, in Africa, West Asia, and in Central Asia."
In an interaction that followed his keynote speech at a conference on US-India Relations, Barack Obama administration's point man for South Asia, Robert Blake was asked how he saw the Indo-US partnership playing out in the UN Security Council in the wake of the US endorsement.
The United States has said the Sri Lankan government must respect the rights of detained former army chief Sarath Fonseka as it underlined the need for 'greater transparency' in the court martial proceedings against the top general. "We haven't seen the specifics of the charges (of court martials), but we have consistently stressed that it is important that General Fonseka's rights be respected and that he be accorded a full due process," said Robert Blake.
Barack Obama's trip to India next month would be his longest stay overseas in a country as US President, which reflects the importance he attaches to building strategic relationship between the two largest democratic countries of the world.
US has said that it is yet to take a decision on Lashkar operative David Coleman Headley's extradition to India, said Robert Blake, the Obama Administration's point man for South Asia, especially India-Pakistan relations.
Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Robert Blake said Pakistan had frequently raised the controversial and contentious water issue with India during his recent trip to Islamabad, but added that the US had no intention of intervening in the bilateral issue.
The decision by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom to place India on its 'Watch List,' for what it said was "the government's largely inadequate response to protecting religious minorities," will not impact in any way on the growing US-India strategic partnership, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake has said.
Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake was asked pointedly by rediff.com to respond to a growing perception that Pakistan was hedging on punishing the terrorists behind the Mumbai terror attack and the US was backing off from applying too much pressure on Islamabad because of its strategic interests. Blake said, "First of all, let me say these are really a very complicated set of issues that are for India and Pakistan to resolve."
United States Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake, while briefing reporters on the meeting between Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on the sidelines of the 65th United Nations General Assembly in New York, said the issue of direct and complete access to Pakistani American and Lashkar operative David Coleman had not come up at all at these talks.
In a volte-face, the United States has said no decision has been taken on providing India direct access to 26/11 accused David Headley.
The United States on Saturday said it will allow Indian investigators to interrogate David Headley, who has pleaded guilty to his involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks, but made it clear that he cannot be extradited to India.
Given the current geo-political situation in South Asia, a top Barack Obama administration official on Thursday confirmed that Pakistan will figure in talks when United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meets Indian leaders, during her upcoming visit to India. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake appreciated the recent meetings between the leaders of India and Pakistan and identified it as a positive development.
The United States looks forward to enhancing strategic partnership with India and is likely to make some announcements on it 'fairly soon'. Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in his confirmation hearing, Robert Blake told American Senators that Obama is committed to strengthening the existing strategic partnership between the two countries. "President Obama has said that the United States sees India as a global power," he said.
As the Indian Institute of Technology- Kanpur (IIT-K) is celebrating its 50th anniversary, a top US official said the success story of this leading Indian institute reflects the Indo-US cooperation in the field of education.
Bringing the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks to justice is an important task to finish for Pakistan, which also needs to look into the issue of Hafiz Saeed, accused by India of masterminding the terror strike, besides preventing cross-border infiltration, the United States has said.
The Obama administration's point man for South Asia, Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake has assured that there will be deliverables from the first US-India Strategic Dialogue that will be held in Washington, DC, on June 2-3.
Ambassador Robert Blake, assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, on Tuesday said that the Indo-Pakistan ties would improve if the suspects of the Mumbai attack are tried and convicted by Islamabad.
Virtually supporting India's precondition for any peace talks with Pakistan, a top United States diplomat on Thursday said Islamabad needs to do more to bring to justice the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attack, which claimed over 170 lives including six Americans. Robert Blake, now tipped to become the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Bureau of the State Department, told a powerful Congressional Committee that Pakistan needs to do more on 26/11.
United States feels that Kashmir issue won't be part of the agenda during talks between foreign ministers of India and Pakistan next month as the meeting will focus mainly on action against terrorism and the progress Islamabad has made into the Mumbai attacks probe.
The US has said that this is not the appropriate moment for India and Pakistan to hold discussions on the Kashmir issue, as they need to go for confidence building measures first.
"It is important that they feel that they're going to be able to live a future of hope and of opportunity, that the internally displaced people that are now in camps -- there are still approximately 100,000 of them -- that they be allowed to go back to their homes," US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Robert Blake said.
The United States has once again made it clear that it would not interfere in issues concerning India and Pakistan, and that they should be resolved by the two countries themselves.
India will have "full access" to all the information on terror suspect David Headley, who pleaded guilty before a Chicago court to all 12 terror charges including the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, US Assistance Secretary of State for South Asia Robert Blake said in New Delhi on Friday.
United States has begun preparations to accord a "robust" welcome to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in November, the first state visit of the Obama administration, to make it a special visit for the Indian leader and a "milestone" event in the Indo-US relationship.
The historic Indo-United States civilian nuclear agreement is on the right track, even as New Delhi has to complete a few formalities in this regard, said a top US diplomat. "It (nuke deal) is going very well, Senator. There are still a couple of steps that the Indians have to take to fully implement that agreement," Ambassador Robert Blake, the Obama nominee for the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, said.
The Assistant Secretary of State said trade and agriculture is a major pillar of Indo-US relationship.
As suspense grows about the whereabouts of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran after the capture of the last bastion of the outfit, the Sri Lankan army chief on Monday said he believed the guerrilla leader could be in an underground bunker or in the no-fire zone.It is widely believed that both Prabhakaran and his son Charles Anthony could be in the 20 sq km no-fire zone, where the rebel remnants are said to be holed up after they were pushed out.
Assistant US Secretary of State Robert Blake said that both the sides hoped to sign the end-use monitoring agreement in defence field under which the US would be able to supply sensitive technology to India.
The Italian ambassador Mariani had a head injury and was admitted to the Batticaloa hospital while the US envoy had minor injuries, doctors said.
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