U.S. trying to increase strategic relationship with Pakistan, however not at expense of ties with India: Rubio

The U.S. sees a chance to increase its strategic relationship with Pakistan nevertheless it won’t be on the expense of its historic and essential ties with India, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has mentioned.

Ahead of his assembly with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in Kuala Lumpur on Monday (October 27, 2025), Mr. Rubio, referring to India’s vitality ties with Russia, mentioned New Delhi has already expressed a want to diversify its procurement of crude oil.

The U.S. Secretary of State was interacting with journalists forward of his journey to Malaysia for the ASEAN summit.

Mr. Rubio, to a query on the U.S.’ ties with Pakistan, mentioned New Delhi is “concerned for obvious reasons” and that Washington’s relationship with Islamabad won’t be on the expense of the ties with New Delhi.

“But, I think they (India) have to understand we have to have relations with a lot of different countries. We see an opportunity to expand our strategic relationship with Pakistan,” he mentioned.

“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,” he mentioned.

“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,” Mr. Rubio added.

The U.S.-Pakistan ties have witnessed an upswing within the final six months, particularly after President Donald Trump’s assembly with Pakistan Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir following the navy battle between India and Pakistan in May.

While India rejected Mr. Trump’s repeated claims that he brokered a ceasefire between the 2 international locations, Pakistan credited the U.S. President for ending the hostilities between the 2 international locations.

On India-Russia oil commerce

To one other query on if India will likely be prepared to actually shove off its purchases of Russian oil for a commerce take care of the U.S., Mr. Rubio mentioned New Delhi has already expressed an curiosity in diversifying its oil portfolio.

“If they diversified their portfolio, the more they buy it from us, the more they’ll buy it from someone else. But I wouldn’t prejudge or — I’m not negotiating trade deals. So I’m not going to speak on that,” he mentioned.

“But I know they’ve (India) already expressed a desire to diversify their oil portfolio, even before all of this came up. So, obviously the more we sell them, the less they’ll buy from someone else. And, but, we’ll see where we wind up on all that,” he mentioned.