NEW DELHI — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Pakistan bears a “special responsibility” to help get to the bottom of last week’s terror attacks in India, and she used a condolence trip to India on Wednesday to increase pressure on India’s nuclear rival.
Rice stopped short of blaming the coordinated attacks on Pakistani terrorists, but not by much.
“I made clear that we expect all responsible nations to participate and cooperate in bringing these perpetrators to justice and that Pakistan has a special responsibility to do so,” Rice said.
Her Indian host at an evening news conference was far more direct.
“I informed Dr. Rice that there is no doubt that the terrorist attacks in Mumbai were perpetrated by individuals who came from Pakistan and whose controllers are in Pakistan,” Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said.
Rice spent the day urging cooperation between the nuclear rivals, but the rhetoric in both countries only grew hotter. While she was assuring India of U.S. help in fighting terrorism the top U.S. military officer was next door in Pakistan for closed-door talks.
Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met civilian and military officials of both India and Pakistan during the trip, a senior defense official said Wednesday on condition of anonymity.
The official declined to give details and spoke privately because the meetings were still under way, saying only “It’s all about a cooperative approach to regional security.”
A three-day terrorist attack killed 171 people in India’s financial capital Mumbai. The attackers targeted symbols of the city’s wealth, tourist appeal and Western outlook. Westerners were reportedly singled out, including six Americans who died.
Rice suggested that the United States is especially alarmed by the careful targeting and efficiency displayed in the Mumbai attacks and said “this is a different situation.”
The United States is trying to refocus both Indian and Pakistani leaders on common terrorist threats instead of their suspicions of one another.
Mukherjee showed little sign he is willing to go along. He said the view that the Mumbai attacks were based in Pakistan is broadly shared around the world, putting Rice on the spot.
The Bush administration has had varying success in reframing its relationship with both countries, who have fought three wars against one another.
In Pakistan’s case, a new civilian government has replaced a military government that was a strong ally of President George W. Bush in fighting terrorism. In India, a troubled nuclear cooperation deal finally came through this fall and both nations have said it signaled a fresh start after years of lingering Cold war distance.
The United States is in the awkward position of trying to soothe India without angering Pakistan by laying overt blame. U.S. officials have done so obliquely.
On Tuesday, National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell said the same group that carried out last week’s attack is believed to be behind the 2006 Mumbai train bombings that killed more than 200, Tuesday during a speech at Harvard University.
McConnell did not identify the group by name. However, the Indian government has attributed the 2006 attack to Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistani terrorist group based in Kashmir, and the Students Islamic Movement of India.
A senior State Department official told reporters only that evidence suggests that the brutal, prolonged attack had some roots in Pakistan. Privately, U.S. and foreign counterterrorism officials fingered Lashkar last week.
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