WASHINGTON, March 21: The United States never asked India to reduce its troop presence on the border with Pakistan, says the State Department.

“I’m not aware that there have been any conversations recently about that,” said the department’s spokesman Robert Wood when asked if the United States had advised India to pull back troops from the Pakistan border.

“I was in the meeting. I don’t recall that issue being raised,” said Mr Wood when asked if the issue had been raised during Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon’s meeting with senior US officials in Washington earlier this month.

“Has there been any such request from the Pakistani side?” Mr Wood was asked.

“Not that I’m aware of,” said the spokesman.

The Indian media reported on Friday that last week US special envoy Richard Holbrooke had asked India to pull back some of its troops deployed on the Pakistan border.

According to this report, Mr Holbrooke argued that the pullout would enable Pakistan to beef up its presence on the Afghan front.

The report said the request was also conveyed to the Indian foreign secretary when he visited Washington two weeks ago.

In response, India told the US that any escalation which had taken place on the border in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks was entirely on the Pakistani side, the report said.

Mr Holbrooke was also told that India had not deployed additional forces that could now be withdrawn to other locations, the report added.
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