MUMBAI - An audience of Indian college students challenged President Obama on Sunday over his administration's relationship with Pakistan's government, drawing a defensive response and a challenge of his own, The Washington Post reports.

"We want nothing more than a stable, prosperous and peaceful Pakistan," Obama told the students gathered in a courtyard of St. Xavier's College to see him. "But I'm also going to say something that may surprise you. The country that has the biggest stake in Pakistan's success is India."

The town hall event, featuring Obama as a professorial host, was a moment of unscripted public diplomacy as he sought to bridge the divide between two bitter rivals. Not only was Obama forced to explain some of the awkward elements of U.S. policy in South Asia, from support for Pakistan to his end game in Afghanistan, but he also provided a rare glimpse at the way he approaches his work.

Encounters with young people have become staples of Obama's travels abroad, a nod to his appeal as a symbol of U.S. progress and tolerance. And in few countries will young people make more of a difference in the short term than here.

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