Washington’s Afghanistan-Pakistan envoy Richard Holbrooke’s is set to arrive in the capital late Tuesday night and will call on Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and National Security Advisor MK Narayanan for a round of meetings starting Wednesday. Holbrooke will be accompanied by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen who will also meet Navy Chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta for a separate round of discussions. Both Holbrooke and Mullen are arriving after a tour of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The visit comes in the shadow of a chill settling into India-US relations and even talk of a nuclear deal with Pakistan to “acknowledge its nuclear weapon status” by a task group that was set up and previously headed by Holbrooke.

While American embassy officials deny any such thaw in the relationship, the visit will come in the shadow of concerns about pressures on India to be ‘flexible’ on its stance that Pakistan should act against terrorists operating from its soil.

This is also the first visit by the US envoy after the announcement of the Af-Pak policy by the US government last month. The official is expected to get India’s feedback on the policy and will be told about India’s concern about the rising radicalisation in Pakistan.