US Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns was in New Delhi Thursday to hold talks with senior Indian officials on combating terrorism in the region and promoting bilateral ties, news reports said.The US official met with Human Resources Minister Kapil Sibal and was due to hold talks with External Affairs Minister SM Krishna and Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, the IANS news agency reported.
Burns' visit is seen as preparation for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Washington in November as the Obama administration's first state guest, the PTI news agency reported. During the meetings, issues like the Mumbai terrorist attacks, the security situation in the Pakistan-Afghanistan region and nuclear non-proliferation were likely to be discussed.
Indian officials were likely to raise Pakistan's inaction against radical cleric Hafiz Saeed, said to be the mastermind of the Mumbai carnage. Saeed, who heads the Jamaat-ud-Dawa charity group, is also the founder of the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant outfit, that has been blamed for the Mumbai attacks. More than 160 people died in gun-and-bomb attacks in November, unleashed by Pakistani militants who reached the city by boat.
Burns was likely to get New Delhi's feedback on the recent bomb attack outside the Indian Embassy in Kabul which claimed 18 lives and injured over 60, the report said. The USofficial is scheduled to meet National Security Advisor MK Narayanan on Friday.