US wants India to support Pak in tackling terrorism

Lalit K Jha

Washington, Mar 24 (PTI) In its first substantive remarks
on India, the Obama Administration wants New Delhi to support
Pakistan in rooting out terrorism arguing that it has a "big
stake" in the success of the democratic government in the
Islamic nation.

The US also said it backed a global role for India and
the central question is how the two countries can work
together to address the regional, global challenges.

"I think it will be important for India to make clear
that as Pakistan takes steps to deal with extremists on its
own territory that India will be supportive of that," Deputy
Secretary of State James Steinberg said Monday.

The American assessment of what it expects from India
while dealing with the volatile situation in Pakistan and
Afghanistan was given by Steinberg in his address at the
prestigious Brookings Institution, a Washington-based
think-tank in the first major foreign policy speech on India
by a top Obama administration official.

Acknowledging India's efforts in the reconstruction of
Afghanistan in the recent years, Steinberg said President
Obama would set out the US strategy for the region in the
coming weeks.

He said India should "look for ways to contribute to an
overall environment which can then lead to further efforts to
root out extremists...There is obviously a complex history
between the two countries but we will encourage India to see
that it has a big stake in the efforts that we will be
advocating to work both with Afghanistan and Pakistan."

"As (the Pak) President (Asif Ali) Zardari and the
Pakistani Government take courageous steps needed to confront
and eliminate extremists, India and the US must work together
with all our international partners to support them and
facilitate democracy," Steinberg said.

He said India has a "big stake" in success of democratic
government in Pakistan and is playing a very important role in
South Asia. "We encourage India to continue that," he added.

Steiberg also said that the US and India have "moved
beyond" bitter differences on nuclear weapons and that
Washington sought a "third stage of rapprochement."

The two countries had uneasy relations during the Cold
War and later came to loggerheads over India's decision in
1998 to explode a nuclear bomb.

Steinberg said India and the US should work together
for a "strengthened" NPT.

"The agreement not only provides a concrete platform for
economic and technological cooperation between our two
countries but also offers a basis for moving beyond one of
our most serious barriers to political cooperation -- the
status of India's nuclear programem," Steinberg said.