Summary The US has hailed the dismissal of blasphemy charges against Ramsha Masih.
The spokesperson of the US State Department, Victoria Nuland said during a briefing Tuesday that the dismissal of the charges against the 14-year-old mentally disabled girl were encouraging. "We were pleased to see those charges dismissed", she said adding that the US held regular human rights discussions with some hundred countries around the world, including Pakistan.
Regarding President Karzai’s visit to India, she said that the US had been "encouraging, both on the Afghan side and on the Indian side, more direct economic contacts, more investment both ways, improved transportation routes, improved people-to-people relations". "I don’t think we’ve made any secret of that. But we obviously are not brokers in those conversations", she clarified.
On the India-Afghan counter-terrorism cooperation, she recalled that "India does now support the Afghan National Police, and that’s something that we are very supportive of". "With regard to whether those relationships in the security sector develop further, I think that’s a matter for those two countries", she maintained.
- Contributed by Awais Saleem, Dunya News correspondent in Washington, DC
