Washington, December 7
US President George Bush and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin exchanged views on the India-Pakistan situation and Islamabad’s support to North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme.
“The heart of their (telephonic) discussion” was North Korea, but the two did “very briefly” talk about the India-Pakistan situation because Mr Putin had just been to New Delhi, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer told newsmen.
He gave no details about the trend of the discussion they had but said they spoke chiefly about North Korea in the 14-minute phone conversation.
When his attention was drawn to the views expressed in New Delhi by President Putin and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, calling on Pakistan to stop incursions into Jammu and Kashmir, Mr Fleischer said: “The war on terrorism is a global war. We fight it in numerous ways on numerous fronts and different nations lend different strengths to that war. They make different contributions to that war as they see fit and that’s how we see it.”
In a joint statement issued in New Delhi at the end of Mr Putin’s visit, the two sides highlighted the importance of Islamabad implementing its obligations and promises to prevent the infiltration of terrorists across the Line of Control into Kashmir and at other points across the border, as well as to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-controlled territory as a prerequisite for the resumption of a dialogue between India and Pakistan.
Besides India, Mr Putin also visited China and the central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan.
Mr Bush and Mr Putin also discussed the situation on the Korean peninsula and the importance of North Korea making certain that it complied with the international community in a denuclearised Korean peninsula.
“And the two discussed the importance of continuing our joint efforts to make that the case,” Mr Fleischer said.
Mr Bush and Mr Putin did not discuss Iraq in the phone conversation, he said.
IANS
