Krishna meets Hillary, speaks on terror

New Delhi: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is meeting External Affairs Minister SM Krishna at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi in what is seen as an important meeting against the backdrop of July 13 serial bomb blasts in Mumbai.

Krishna spoke about the terror attack, in which 19 people have been killed, in his opening remarks at the delegation-level talks and said India appreciated the solidarity shown by the US government.

Krishna is accompanied by Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Sam Pitroda, Advisor to the Prime Minister and other senior officials while Hillary's delegation includes Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and Assistant to President on Science and Technology John Holdren.

Both sides will also look at hastening the implementation of the civil nuclear deal. Energy and climate change, education, science and technology, health and defence are also on the agenda and both sides are likely to sign key agreements in cyber security and civil aviation as well.

Hillary had already met National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon and Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao as India and the US expect to expand counter-terror cooperation.

Hillary will also call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi. Accompanied by 25-member delegation including top security officials in the US administration, will travel to Chennai on Wednesday.

She landed in India on Monday night for the second Indo-US strategic dialogue that was originally slated to be held in April.

But as Hillary holds talk with the Indian delegation, a senior American senator has warned that “the US-Pak relations are at a crisis”.

Senator Diana Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has said that that it appears US and Pakistan intelligence agencies cannot work together. She has referred to several instances when specific targets were put to test by allowing Pakistani military to enter first.

According to her, all these targets were emptied out before the military got to them. Her statement comes just a few days after Pakistani intelligence agency the ISI chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha visited the United States.