Washington, Oct 23 (IANS): Rejecting Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi's call to President Barack Obama to raise the Kashmir issue during his India visit, the United States has reiterated it's a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan.
"Kashmir is an issue that we believe needs to be resolved between Pakistan and India," State Department spokesman PJ Crowley told reporters on Friday hours after Qureshi asked Obama to "redeem the pledge" he made as a candidate.
But he did not consider it inappropriate on the part of Qureshi to raise it during the just concluded US-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue "focused on expanding our bilateral relationship". "When we get together, the United States or Pakistan can bring forward any issue that it wishes," Crowley said. "The Pakistanis have raised the issue of Kashmir with us before. This is not new. Our understanding of the Pakistani view of this issue is well known," he said. "But at the same time, the United States policy is clear: We believe that this is ultimately an issue that has to be resolved between India and Pakistan."
