May 5, 2003	Monday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 2, 1424

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WASHINGTON, May 4: US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage’s visit will begin from Islamabad on May 5 instead of Kabul, as planned earlier.

From Islamabad the US delegation, which also includes Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Christina Rocca, will go to Kabul and then to New Delhi.

Mr Armitage would have already met Indian national security adviser, Brijesh Mishra, in London, before he arrives in Islamabad. A State Department official told Dawn that the meeting with Mr Mishra was arranged because the Indian official, who is now in Europe, will not be available for talks when Mr Armitage arrives in New Delhi. He will be in the United States, where he is expected to meet his American counterpart, Condoleezza Rice.

Asked to explain Mr Armitage’s agenda, the State Department official said: “He will meet senior officials in each country for discussions on a range of regional and bilateral issue.”

“The United States has a continuing interest and strong relationships with South Asian countries and in promoting peace and stability in the region, the official said.

According to the State Department official “terrorism and further encouraging engagement between India and Pakistan” will be high on Mr Armitage’s agenda.

In his talks in Kabul and Islamabad, the official said, Mr Armitage would “follow up on the recent successful meeting between President Pervez Musharraf and President Hamid Karzai and would encourage them to continue their good work in this direction.”

The US official was referring to last week’s meeting between the two presidents during which Pakistan and Afghanistan reached an understanding to fight Taliban and Al Qaeda activists operating along their border.

The official, however, was much more “enthusiastic” in welcoming another development in the region, a mutual decision by India and Pakistan to lower tensions.

On Friday, Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee ended a two-year impasse by saying India was ready to name an envoy to Pakistan and resume air links. Islamabad responded by swiftly agreeing to talks and restoring diplomatic ties.

“We applaud India and Pakistan for continuing to move forward, away from confrontation and towards engagement with each other,” the US official said.

He also welcomed Pakistan’s latest statement that it will soon announce measures aimed at further reducing decades of tensions with India.

Prime Minister Zafarfullah Jamali made the comment on Saturday, during a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Colin Powell. The Mr Powell assured Mr Jamali that the United States will continue to make efforts to promote better understanding between India and Pakistan.

Mr Powell also called India’s External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha and praised the peace moves as “very, very promising.”

The US Secretary of State made these calls from Damascus to show that Washington wants to stay engaged in South Asia despite its apparent preoccupation with the Middle East.

Officially Washington denies playing any role in bringing about the change in attitudes in the Subcontinent and gives credit to the two neighbours for making the recent peace overtures.

But South Asian diplomatic sources in Washington say that behind the scene, the United States brought intense diplomatic pressure on both India and Pakistan to break this impasse.

“The Americans have stayed engaged throughout the process, constantly pushing both the governments to open bilateral talks,” said a South Asian diplomat involved in the negotiations.

“The Americans are now focusing on translating these peace moves into something more tangible, something concrete,” he added.

According to these diplomatic sources, the Americans are now urging India and Pakistan to go slow. The Americans believe that in the past the two sides moved too quickly into summit level meetings and that’s why such meetings could not produce any results, the sources said.

“This time, they are advising India and Pakistan first to firm up their proposals at the lower levels before seeking a Lahore or Agra-style summit,” said another senior South Asian diplomat, referring to two failed meetings between Indian and Pakistani leaders.