The Hindu : U.S. 'anxious' to see talks resume

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 11, 2002

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International

U.S. 'anxious' to see talks resume

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

Washington July 10. The Bush administration has said that it wants to make sure India and Pakistan understand that the United States was interested in the two countries beyond the present crisis and that Washington was "anxious" to see a dialogue resume and move forward on a solution to the Kashmir problem.

The Republican administration said it wanted a good relationship with both India and Pakistan in all aspects — economic, trade and military. "It's a very difficult issue (Kashmir). And what we are trying to do now is make sure that both the Indians and the Pakistanis understand that the U.S. is interested in them beyond this crisis," the Secretary of State, Colin Powell, said in the course of a hearing in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

"We want a good relationship with India on every aspect of that relationship — economic, trade, military cooperation. The same thing with Pakistan. And we are anxious to get through this crisis and see a dialogue begin between the two sides so that we can start to move forward to find a solution to the problem in Kashmir ultimately," Gen. Powell responded during an interaction with Senator George Allen. The Secretary of State said the U.S. had worked hard to keep the current crisis "from blowing up or boiling over on us" and he expected to visit the region before the end of July. "We have worked very hard to keep this thing from blowing up or boiling over on us. And I spent an enormous amount of time on the telephone with the two sides, spoke to President Musharraf again yesterday, spoke to the new Indian Foreign Minister on Sunday. Deputy Secretary Armitage, I think, did yeoman work when he went over there... Secretary Rumsfeld when he went over there. I expect to be visiting there before the end of the month to keep this process going along."

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