Rice flies to India to ease tension with Pakistan

H Κοντολίζα Rice θα επισκευτεί την Ινδία για να "κατευνάσει" τα πνεύματα .. Τώρα ησυχάσαμε .. όποια εκδοχή της Κοντολίζας και να δεχτούμε..

αυτή ..
αυτή..

η και αυτή ..

NEW DELHI (Reuters) -

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was due in New Delhi on Wednesday as part of intense U.S. efforts to ease tension between India and Pakistan that has surged over the Mumbai attacks. The top U.S. military commander was also visiting the nuclear-armed South Asian rivals and India's senior-most diplomat held meetings in Washington in other initiatives. The 10 Islamist gunmen who killed 183 people in a three-day rampage in India's financial capital last week were from a Pakistani militant group, investigators said. India has long said Pakistan is unable or unwilling to act against groups on its soil that launch such strikes and the attacks threatened to unravel improving ties between the adversaries, who have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947. Islamabad has denied involvement and condemned the Mumbai attacks. Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said military action was not being considered but later warned a peace process begun in 2004 was at risk if Pakistan did not act decisively. "It has vitiated the atmosphere," Mukherjee said of the attacks in an interview to NDTV television. "While we have no intention of not carrying on with the peace process, when people's sentiments are affected it creates an atmosphere not to carry on business as usual, it has some impact." The deterioration could also put U.S. counterterrorism efforts in the region at risk -- Islamabad has said the tensions may force it to shift troops from operations against al Qaeda militants on the Afghanistan border to the frontier with India.
"EXTREMIST SOPHISTICATION"
Rice cut short a European tour to meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is under election-year pressure to craft a muscular response to opposition criticism his ruling Congress party is weak on security. Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, would also visit the region starting on Wednesday, officials said. They declined to give specific details. "The chairman intends to meet with civilian and military leaders of both nations to encourage a cooperative approach to regional security concerns in the wake of the Mumbai attacks," Navy Capt. John Kirby, a spokesman for Mullen, said by e-mail. "He believes the attacks, which also killed Americans, point to a growing sophistication of extremist groups that threaten the entire region." India's Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon met Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and other officials in Washington on Tuesday.