Rao meets top US officials, briefs them on Indo-Pak talks

Lalit K Jha
Washington, Mar 17 (PTI) India's Foreign Secretary
Nirupama Rao reviewed the progress of India-US strategic
dialogue with top Obama Administration officials, including
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and briefed them on the
recent Indo-Pak talks as well as New Delhi's view point on
Afghanistan.
Rao, who is on a six-day visit here, met Under
Secretary of State for Political Affairs Bill Burns at the
Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department, where
Clinton dropped in and joined the discussion.
The Foreign Secretary also met National Security
Adviser Gen James Jones at the White House.
"Foreign Secretary briefed the US side about her talks
with the Foreign Secretary of Pakistan (Salman Bashir) last
month," Indian Embassy said in a statement.
India and Pakistan resumed dialogue last month after a
14-month gap. Rao and Bashir met in New Delhi on February 25.
"She exchanged views on recent developments related to
Afghanistan and stressed that Afghanistan presented the
foremost security related challenge in the region," it said.
Rao also reiterated India's long held position that it
was important for the international community to stay the
present course in Afghanistan for as long as it is necessary.
"The US interlocutors conveyed their appreciation of
the important developmental work being done by India in
Afghanistan," the statement said.
The bilateral meetings, the statement said, provided
Rao an opportunity to review the progress on various pillars
of India-US Strategic Dialogue agenda including cooperation in
defence, nuclear energy, counter-terrorism, agriculture,
education, energy, space and cyber-security. PTI