Musharraf begins Camp David talks

Musharraf was in London last week

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has begun talks with his US counterpart, George W Bush, with the easing of tensions in India high on the agenda.

The talks at Camp David are the highlight of the general's four-nation world tour.

The meeting will look at ways of "kick-starting a meaningful, result-oriented dialogue" between Islamabad and Delhi, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

Tensions have eased recently between the nuclear-armed neighbours, but progress has been limited and no date for resuming peace talks has been announced.

The countries have fought three wars since 1947, two of them over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan said the Musharraf-Bush talks would have a special focus on recent peace initiatives, set in motion by Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in April.

Mr Khan said the US had been playing a constructive role "behind the scenes" to help foster negotiations.

Agenda

The Pakistani leader's trip has already taken him to London, where he met Prime Minister Tony Blair last week.

This is his biggest foreign tour since he seized power in a coup in 1999, and the stated aim is to build long-term strategic relationships with the US and Europe.

A bullet riddled wall in Indian-administered Kashmir

Correspondents say General Musharraf hopes to cover a huge range of business. Kashmir will top an agenda that includes:

• seeking concessions from the US for the economic cost of the "war on terror"
• purchasing US military hardware
• discussing the continuing hunt for militants in Pakistan
• and the rise of Islamic radicals in areas of the country, which worries Western governments

Militants

Washington warmed to Pakistan after it joined the "war on terror" in 2001.

But in recent months US officials have questioned whether Islamabad is doing enough to prevent Pakistan-based militants crossing into Indian-administered Kashmir to attack targets there.

Mr Bush is expected to press General Musharraf on the issue of such incursions, which have increased tensions between India and Pakistan.

After the US, President Musharraf flies to Germany to meet Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, and then moves to France for talks with President Jacques Chirac.