Washington

Dhruva Jaishankar, Executive Director of the Observer Research Foundation America, has cautioned that renewed US engagement with Pakistan’s military establishment remains one of the most significant challenges for India–US relations.

He made the remarks while testifying before the House Foreign Affairs South and Central Asia Subcommittee during a hearing titled “The US-India Strategic Partnership: Securing a Free and Open Indo-Pacific.”

Outlining New Delhi’s long-standing concerns, Jaishankar said:

“The second challenge in India relates to the United States’ renewed engagement with Pakistan's military leadership. Pakistan has a long and well-documented history of using non-state terrorist proxies against India… India’s experience is that third-party mediation has often contributed to Pakistan’s adventurism.”
He added that while Washington has historically adopted a policy of “de-hyphenation,” significant scope for future collaboration remains if differences over trade and Pakistan are managed effectively.

His comments come as the United States has announced a major investment in Pakistan’s critical minerals sector. On Wednesday, the US Export-Import Bank (EXIM) approved USD 1.25 billion in financing for the Reko Diq mining project in Balochistan.

In a video message on X, US Embassy Islamabad Chargé d’Affaires Natalie A. Baker said the Trump administration had placed commercial deals at the centre of its diplomatic outreach.

“EXIM recently approved financing of USD 1.25 billion to support the mining of critical minerals at Reko Diq,” she said, adding that the financing would support “up to USD 2 billion in high-quality US mining equipment and services” and create an estimated 6,000 US jobs and 7,500 jobs in Balochistan.

Calling Reko Diq a model project, she said it would bring prosperity to both countries. The US Embassy also described the investment as a “game-changer” for businesses and local communities.

The move is part of broader economic engagement between Washington and Islamabad. In July, President Donald Trump announced a separate initiative to develop Pakistan’s oil reserves, declaring on Truth Social:

“We have just concluded a deal… Who knows, maybe they'll be selling oil to India someday!”

Trump made the announcement just hours after imposing 25 per cent tariffs and additional penalties on India.

Around the same period, following the May conflict triggered by the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people and prompted India’s Operation Sindoor, Trump hosted Pakistan Army Chief General Asim Munir at the White House. Trump later said he invited Munir to thank him “for not going into the war and ending it.”

Munir returned to the US again in August, where he made provocative remarks against India. According to ARY News and The Dawn, he told the Pakistani-American community in Tampa, Florida:

“We will wait for India to build a dam, and when they do so, we will destroy it,”
reiterating Pakistan’s line on Kashmir as its “jugular vein.”

India rejected similar comments earlier in April. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said:

“How can anything foreign be in a jugular vein? This is a Union Territory of India… its only relationship with Pakistan is the vacation of illegally occupied territories.”

Pakistan also nominated President Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, crediting his “decisive diplomatic intervention” during the May conflict. At the UN General Assembly, Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif praised Trump as a “man of peace” and repeated the nomination.

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However, India had agreed to cease hostilities only after Pakistan’s Director General of Military Operations contacted his Indian counterpart.