M A I N   N E W S

Rumsfeld seeks India’s help in Iraq
Ashok Dixit

New Delhi, December 10
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is reported to have asked India to provide sufficient reconstruction-related assistance to the US-backed coalition in war-ravaged Iraq.

Highly-placed sources in the PMO said that during his interaction with the Indian leadership on Thursday, lasting close to three hours, including meetings with Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Rumsfeld did not make any specific request for the deployment of Indian troops in Iraq, but focussed on seeking other forms of assistance from New Delhi.

The sources further said that during his “candid” discussions with the Indian leadership, Rumsfeld also gave his assessment of the situations prevailing in Iraq and Afghanistan. He described Iraq as still being “quite volatile and uncertain, but added that progress was being made in that country as far as reconstruction efforts was concerned. New Delhi, the sources said, had conveyed that “it would be happy to respond, but only after the situation in Iraq stabilises a little more.”