"And so that was the purpose of the trip, and so far, at least some steps seem to be taken that may lead to -- to those two goals, bringing the perpetrators to justice and getting India and Pakistan to cooperate to make certain that future attacks don't take place," Rice said in an interview to CNBC.

The top State Department official was asked what she told India as to what would be an appropriate response to the terrorism.

"I talked about a response that would actually be commensurate with the goals. The goals are to -- to bring the perpetrators to justice and to prevent a follow-on attack.

"Anything that in fact would make the situation worse or might introduce unintended consequences is not going to be good for the stability of the region or really it isn't going to address what needs to be done. And that was also my message to India," Rice replied.