Powell takes credit for defusing India-Pakistan tensions
By Our Correspondent
WASHINGTON, Dec 29: US Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Tuesday that making peace between India and Pakistan was one of the major achievements of his four-year tenure as America's chief diplomat.
"We succeeded in helping India and Pakistan from getting into a war," said Mr Powell while talking about his achievements as secretary of state to NBC News. India had deployed hundreds of thousands of additional troops along its border with Pakistan after a terrorist attack on its parliament in Dec 2001.
Pakistan matched the Indian move by deploying its troops in forward positions. This confrontational deployment caused fears across the world that even a small incident could trigger yet another war.
"We have created superb relations with the Chinese and we have good relations with Russia. We have increased foreign assistance by a significant amount," said the outgoing secretary while counting other achievements.
In earlier remarks, he hoped that Dr Condoleezza Rice, who is replacing him as secretary of state, will continue the policy of maintaining good relations with both India and Pakistan.
