After cold shoulder,Holbrooke tries to thaw the chill

Sensing the drift in relations after a string of statements suggesting reverse pressure on India vis a vis Pakistan...

Sensing the drift in relations after a string of statements suggesting reverse pressure on India vis a vis Pakistan,Washington today said that neither was it trying to negotiate a dialogue between the two countries nor pressuring the two to resume bilateral talks.

Underlining that New Delhis full support is vital for a solution to the Afghanistan problem,US Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke who got a cold shoulder during his visit in February said that he had only come to inform and consult New Delhi on developments in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

We did not come here to ask the Indians to do anything. We came here to inform…to get their views. We did not come here with any requests, he said.

The US envoy,accompanied by US Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen,emphasized that Indias support is critical to a solution to Afghanistan. We cannot settle issues like Afghanistan and other issues without Indias full involvement, he said.

Holbrooke ducked questions on talk of a deal with Pakistan to acknowledge its nuclear weapon status by an Asia Society task group that he set up and headed. The subject did not come up for discussion, he said.

Holbrooke held talks with Foreign Secretary S S Menon and Ambassador Satinder Lambah,Indias special representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan. He also met NSA M K Narayanan.

For the first time since Partition India,Pakistan and the US face a common threat,a common challenge and we have a common task. Now that we face a common threat we must work together and at the centre of the problem is Pakistan, Holbrooke said.

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Noting Indias impressive foreign assistance to the country, he said that better coordination between India and the US in development projects would lead to greater stability in Afghanistan. By having a dialogue with your government,we realized both have the same priorities.

The US envoy,who met several people from the Swat valley during his Pakistan visit,also denounced the deal of the Pak government with the Taliban. He said the deal has stunned the world. And that Pak Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud was a terrible man who posed a great danger to the entire region.