MUMBAI — Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the United States’ relationship with Pakistan during his visit to India, telling CNN-News18 that Washington has to maintain ties with Islamabad because Pakistan possesses nuclear weapons and sits in a geography the United States “needs to be able to interact with.”
The remarks came in an interview with Network18’s Rahul Joshi on Tuesday, when Rubio was asked whether his position had changed since his time in the Senate. As a senator in 2025, Rubio had said he would introduce a bill to cut U.S. security aid to Pakistan if it sponsored terrorism against India.
“We’re against terrorism anywhere in the world. We’re against anybody who sponsors terrorism,” Rubio said. “In my new role — I’m no longer a senator; I’m the Secretary of State — I have to manage the foreign policy of the United States. And that does require us to have relationships with countries, including those that we may have some disagreements with.”
“In the case of Pakistan, it’s a country that we have to have a relationship with,” he said. “It’s a country that possesses nuclear weapons. It’s a country that, from a geographic standpoint, we need to be able to interact with them, in much the same way as the Government of India has to have and has a relationship and meets with leaders from Iran.”
Rubio argued that engagement could also serve India’s interests. “These are difficult things to balance, but they have to be as part of our foreign policy,” he said. “And I think in a way it could be a positive thing, because if we have a relationship and we can speak to them, it perhaps puts us in a position to help discourage the kinds of things that India is worried about.”
The interview came during a three-day visit built around the U.S.-India partnership, including talks with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and a trade agreement Rubio described in the same interview as “incredibly close,” down to technical details he expected to be settled “in a matter of weeks, not months.” In a separate interview with The Indian Express published Wednesday, Rubio sought to reassure his hosts directly, saying the U.S. relationship with Pakistan — “or any country in the world” — would never come at the expense of its relationship with India.
Quotes are from the official U.S. Department of State transcript of Secretary Rubio’s interview with Rahul Joshi of CNN-News18, Mumbai, October 20, 2026. Photo: U.S. Department of State (public domain).
