'US committed to 'next level' defence ties with India: State Dept Spox Tommy Pigott

Washington DC [US], May 30 (ANI): US State Department Spokesperson Tommy Pigott reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening a result-driven strategic partnership with India, clarifying that Washington's relationship with New Delhi and Islamabad stands on their "own merit" and is not a "zero-sum proposition".
Pigott's remarks came when ANI asked him about the US decision to upgrade the Pakistani F-16 fleet, while calling India its most strategic partner.
The US State Department Spokesperson assured that the US is committed to growing defence cooperation with India and looking for further opportunities to take the partnership to the next level.
"We value our relationship with both India and Pakistan. These relationships stand on their own merits and are not a zero-sum proposition. And we're committed to continuing to strengthen our results-driven and ambitious strategic partnership with India," he told ANI.
"On the bilateral front, we are continuing to grow our cooperation, security cooperation, defence and security, in terms of seeing a free and open Indo-Pacific, and we're proud of that work. We're also seeing further cooperation, growing cooperation across the air, sea, and land domains, and we're looking for further opportunities to bring our defence partnership to the next level," he added.
Pigott further called the relationship between India and the US "historic" and based on the "results-driven, ambitious agendas", mentioning the recently concluded critical minerals deal and other areas of cooperation, such as the open Indo-Pacific region for trade and the fight against narcotics.
"The relationship between our two democracies is truly historic. A strategic partnership that is based off of those results-driven ambitious agendas between our two nations. That includes all the deliverables that we saw, including on critical minerals, including on a free and open Indo-Pacific, and including on making sure that we are increasing cooperation on maritime domain awareness to combat counter-narcotics and to combat piracy. Those are things that make sure that both of our nations can be free and healthy and can realise the full economic potential that we have between our two nations," he said.
During US State Secretary Marco Rubio's visit to India, Washington and New Delhi signed a bilateral Critical Minerals Framework, marking a milestone in the strategic partnership between the two nations to ensure that the foundational elements required for advanced technology and energy are available within trusted networks.
This agreement builds upon the foundational groundwork laid in February 2026 during high-level meetings in Washington, DC, where Secretary of State Marco Rubio launched the Forum on Resource Geostrategic Engagement (FORGE), the official statement from the US Embassy said.
The statement added, "The U.S. Government is mobilising unprecedented resources to secure critical mineral supply chains, supporting projects with more than $30 billion in letters of interest, investments, loans, and other support in partnership with the private sector. These investments, along with Pax Silica and our reinvigorated diplomatic and commercial engagement, are having a multiplier effect, mobilising private capital many times greater than government outlays, which will generate billions of dollars in new projects to secure our supply chains. These coordinated efforts span domestic and international projects, strengthening U.S. national security and economic competitiveness." (ANI)