Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that the US sees an opportunity to expand its strategic relationship with Pakistan and that the recent strengthening of ties between the two countries does not come at the expense of Washington’s relationship with New Delhi.

He made these remarks during a press briefing on Saturday, during which he was asked whether India had raised any concerns about the “stronger relationship” between the US and Pakistan.

“They really haven’t — I mean, we know they’re concerned for obvious reasons because of the tensions that have existed between Pakistan and India historically. But, I think they have to understand, we have to have relations with a lot of different countries,” he said, according to a transcript of the briefing on the State Department’s website.

He continued, “We see an opportunity to expand our strategic relationship with Pakistan, and I think we’ve made — that’s our job, is to try to figure out how many countries we can find how we can work with on things of common interest.

“So, I think the Indians are very mature when it comes to diplomacy and things of that nature. Look, they have some relationships with countries that we don’t have relationships with. So, it’s part of a mature, pragmatic foreign policy. I don’t think anything we’re doing with Pakistan comes at the expense of our relationship or friendship with India, which is deep, historic, and important.”

Rubio was also asked whether the recent improvement in ties between the US and Pakistan was based on Islamabad’s “recognition of the US role and President [Donald Trump’s] role in resolving and in avoiding potential war between India and Pakistan?”

“What do you think was the turning point?” a reporter asked him, according to the transcript on the State Department’s website.

To that, Rubio began his response with, “I think they appreciated.”

He then went on to say that “anytime you work with someone, you get to know them and you interact with them, and so I do think there was some sense of happiness about it. But even before that conflict had started, I had already reached out to them and said look, we are interested in rebuilding an alliance, a strategic partnership with you. We think there are things we can work together with them on”.

The secretary of state reiterated that the US was “fully aware of the challenges with regards to India and everything else, but our job is to try to create opportunities for partnerships with countries where it’s possible. And we’ve had a long history of partnering with Pakistan on counterterror and things of that nature. We’d like to expand it beyond that, if possible, understanding that there’ll be some difficulties and some challenges”.

“But I think it’s a very encouraging thing that that relationship has strengthened the way that it has, and I don’t think it comes at the expense, or instead of a good relationship with India, or anybody else for that matter,” he added.

Earlier this month, a Dawn report highlighted that Pakistan was entering a new phase in its economic and strategic partnership with the US, as the two allies move closer to implementing a deal for the export of rare earth minerals.

The improvement in ties and newfound partnership between the two sides was particularly seen after Pakistan acknowledged US President Donald Trump’s role in resolving a four-day escalation between nuclear powers Islamabad and New Delhi.

Following the development, Pakistan’s chief of army staff, Field Marshal Asim Munir, had gone to Washington on a five-day official visit in June. During the visit, he had met with President Trump over luncheon, becoming the first serving army chief to have a face-to-face meeting with a sitting US president.

During a subsequent visit to the US in August, Field Marshal Munir had termed his second trip to the US in a span of just a month and a half a “new dimension” in ties between Washington and Islamabad.

In September, he accompanied Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to a meeting with Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly session in August, during which regional security and cooperation along the lines of counter-terrorism, among other matters, were discussed.

Meanwhile, Trump has thanked both PM Shehbaz and “my favourite” Field Marshal Munir for their efforts in securing the ceasefire deal in Gaza.

Earlier today, he called PM Shehbaz and Field Marshal Munir “great people” while stating that he would get the recent conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan “solved very quickly”.

Separately, American metals company US Strategic Metals (USSM) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Pakistan in September to invest rou­ghly $500 million to establish mineral processing and development facilities in the country. It rece­ntly dispatched its first consignment of mineral samples to the US to advance the deal.

The sample shipment, prepared locally in collaboration with the Frontier Works Organisation, includes antimony, copper concentrate, and rare earth elements such as neodymium and praseodymium.

In a statement, USSM described the delivery as “a milestone in the Pakistan–US strategic partnership,” noting that the MoU “establishes a roadmap for cooperation across the entire mineral value chain — from exploration and processing to the establishment of refineries inside Pakistan.”