US and India hold defence talks

There is a new US focus on engagement in the region

By Nick Childs BBC's Pentagon correspondent

The up and down military relationship between the United States and India seems to be on the up once more.

US and Indian defence officials are due to hold two days of talks at the Pentagon on Tuesday on their growing military ties.

The gathering follows a similar meeting in Delhi in December.

US special forces are on exercises in India at the moment. But also on the minds of both sides is the new sense of crisis between India and Pakistan.

Talks favoured

Washington has called for dialogue between the two.

Rocca: Tried hard to lower the temperature

One US State Department official has already been in the region.

Now the Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage, is heading there - possibly early next month.

Washington is worried not only about the risk in itself of a confrontation between these two nuclear-armed neighbours, but also about the potential impact on its campaign in Afghanistan.

There is a new US focus on and engagement in the region.

Balancing act

Washington and Delhi had been developing closer military ties when the tit-for-tat nuclear tests by India and Pakistan in 1998 put that process on hold.

Tensions over disputed Kashmir have been running high

The two countries had begun rebuilding that relationship when the attacks of 11 September seemed to put it on the back burner again.

The US focus appeared to switch to Pakistan.

The balance changed again in December, when the crisis erupted over the attack on the Indian parliament, blamed by Delhi on Pakistani-backed Kashmiri militants.

High-level US diplomacy, including a visit to the region by the US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, helped lower the temperature then.

But it is a difficult balancing act for Washington, weighing hopes for a warmer long-term relationship with India against its debt to Pakistan over Afghanistan.