Extract from Dawn article:
Defence secretary says Washington is not "pointing fingers right now" at either India or Pakistan over potential missile threats posed to the US.
www.dawn.com
"At the three-day Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Hegseth was reminded of former director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s remarks about Pakistan’s future missile capabilities potentially posing a threat to the US and
was asked whether India’s Agni-VI missile programme posed a similar threat.
The question was posed after Hegseth, in his speech, had lauded US defence cooperation with Indo-Pacific and Southeast Asian countries, as well as India, which he termed a “critical anchor to hold the line”.
“
I mentioned India here, but I very easily could have mentioned Pakistan and the role that the field marshal and the prime minister are playing in peace negotiations,” Hegseth replied, praising PM Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of the Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir.
“I think an unexpected development and a true friendship [is] developing there, which I think is important,” he added.
Noting that both India and Pakistan were nuclear-capable countries, Hegseth said, “I think
both sides are going to see understandable threats coming from the other, maybe some of which we see differently,
and countries are going to want to develop ICBM threats.”
However, he added, “But
we’re not pointing fingers, at least from our view, right now, at either country and calling them a threat to us.”
The defense secretary further said that the US was “grateful for, in each of their lanes, the benefits they’ve given to peace around the world”. "
Indian lurkers here (you know who you are folks) may want to reflect on how Modi has allowed Pakistan to go from pariah state hardly 3 years ago to now being
fully hyphenated with Hindustan in the southern Asian region, including in the American calculus regarding ICBMs. Without even a second breath, Hegseth freely discusses the theoretical threat of Indian missiles when considering the theoretical threat of Pakistani ones.
Never mind for one moment whether ANY of this is actually plausible.
Simply ask yourselves how Modi dropped the ball so repeatedly that we are at a point where this conversation has even occurred.
In fact, on second thoughts, please don't reflect too hard - we want another 10 years of this!