US has very good, growing relationship with India: White House

The United States has a very good and growing relationship with India, the White House said on Thursday. “We have a very good and growing relationship with (Prime Minister) Mr (Narendra) Modi and the Indian government,” White House Counsellor Kellyanne Conway told reporters during a press gaggle.

She was responding to a question on the denial by the Indian government that Modi requested President Donald Trump to mediate or arbitrate on the Kashmir issue.

The US President on Monday stunned the world by saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, sought his help in resolving the long pending Kashmir issue with Pakistan. India, however, denied Trump's statement, adding that Modi made no such request to him and Kashmir will remain a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan.

India has been maintaining that the Kashmir issue was a bilateral one and no third party has any role. Khan welcomed Trump's remarks and said if the US agrees, prayers of more than a billion people will be with him. He was accompanied by Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt Gen Faiz Hameed and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi among others.

India has not been engaging with Pakistan since an attack on the Air Force base at Pathankot in January of 2016 by Pakistan-based terrorists, maintaining that talks and terror cannot go together.

"I think they (Indians) would like to see it resolved. I think you (Khan) would like to see it resolved. And if I can help, I would love to be a mediator. It should be....we have two incredible countries that are very, very smart with very smart leadership, (and they) can't solve a problem like that. But if you would want me to mediate or arbitrate, I would be willing to do that," Trump said.

"We have a very good relationship with India. I know that your relationship (with India) is strained a little bit, maybe a lot. But we will be talking about India? (it's) a big part of our conversation today and I think maybe we can help intercede and do whatever we have to do. It's something that can be brought back together. We will be talking about India and Afghanistan both," Trump told Khan.