Asked about his assessment on whether the ISI was ready to sever its ties with terrorists, Mullen said that one of the priority issues of his visits to Pakistan over the last one year has been the "focus on intelligence activities and doing that in a constructive way".

He said the focus continues to be that but refused to go into the details of the discussions that were going on.

Referring to his visit along with Mullen to Islamabad yesterday, Holbrooke said "we were not there, I repeat, not there to negotiate Pakistani-Indian relations ... I should make it clear."

He said their stopover in New Delhi was to "inform and consult" the Indian government on the US strategy on Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Mullen said the objective of the visit here was to "understand problems through your eyes" as the "leadership" of India is very critical. He said the US would seek to consult India in every engagement "to listen and learn".

Emphasising that the new US strategy on Afghanistan involves joint military-civil effort, Holbrooke said Washington was keen to understand about India's "impressive" developmental activities in the trouble-torn nation.

He hailed developmental activities being undertaken by India in Afghanistan which covers areas like road building, construction of Afghan Parliament and agriculture and said these run parallel to that of the US.

He said further talks will be held between India and the US in this regard in the context of implementation of the new strategy on Afghanistan and Pakistan unveiled by President Barack Obama last month.

... contd.