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U.S. hopeful of rapprochement

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, MAY 24. The Bush administration is looking forward to working with the new government headed by Manmohan Singh and has expressed optimism that the "sort of gradual rapprochement" between India and Pakistan will be able to move forward, the United States Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage, said.

"We note that he's noted as an economic reformer and hope he'll be successful in transforming or transferring the economic improvements that India has received down to the village level and lower levels," he said.

Mr. Armitage said he did not believe that "a sort of gradual rapprochement" between India and Pakistan would be "harmed at all" because of the political developments in New Delhi.

"There is no reason that we should see a hiatus. In fact there's every reason ... to be able to move forward and we're looking forward to that and we're talking to both sides about it," Mr. Armitage said. Washington was not "mediating" between New Delhi and Islamabad, he said when asked whether there was a "clear roadmap" that the U.S. was involved in.

"Well no. What is involved is the strength and the daring and the courage of the leaders of both sides of the question. We make our views known to both sides, but we're not mediating. We're not in the middle of it and I don't know of a clear roadmap — there's a general roadmap which was determined between the former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, and I think that still exists."

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