UAE mediating between India and Pakistan: Al Otaiba

Reuters | Dubai

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

The UAE's envoy to Washington has confirmed the Gulf state is mediating between India and Pakistan to help the nuclear-armed rivals reach a "healthy and functional" relationship.

Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba said in a virtual discussion with Stanford University's Hoover Institution on Wednesday that the UAE played a role "in bringing Kashmir escalation down and created a ceasefire, hopefully ultimately leading to restoring diplomats and getting the relationship back to a healthy level".

"They might not sort of become best friends but at least we want to get it to a level where it's functional, where it's operational, where they are speaking to each other," he said.

Otaiba also said that Pakistan should play a helpful role in Afghanistan, where the US plans to start withdrawing US troops on May 1 to end America's longest war.

The UAE official voiced concern that an abrupt US withdrawal would constitute "reverse progress" by serving the interests of "the more illiberal forces" in Afghanistan.