John McCain tries to calm war fears

Manchester News.Net
Tuesday 2nd December, 2008

US Senator John McCain, the Republican candidate who lost the presidential race to Barack Obama, has expressed his hope that Pakistan will co-operate with India in the Mumbai terrorist attack probe.

He also opposed any military strike against Islamabad from India.

When asked whether the Mumbai attacks were a fit case for India to launch military action against Pakistan, he replied: “No. We do not have hard evidence yet. Obviously, there are allegations that organisations, individuals or groups were trained in Pakistan.”

Underlining solidarity with India in the wake of the Nov 26th terror attacks, he said the US would not allow terrorists to provoke a confrontation between India and Pakistan.

He said: “The US government is committed to better relations between India and Pakistan. Those behind the Mumbai carnage tried to provoke a confrontation between India and Pakistan.”

McCain said the US would take a pro-active US role in thwarting any breakdown of dialogue between India and Pakistan.

He hoped that Pakistan would cooperate in addressing India's concerns over the terror strikes and show “transparency.”

He added: “It is in the national interests of Pakistan to weaken these elements.”

McCain, the Republican senator from Arizona, was on his way to Bangladesh and Bhutan but decided to make a brief stopover in India to echo the anxieties in Washington about the repercussions of potential India-Pakistan confrontation on the US war against fundamentalists in Afghanistan.

If such a situation were to arise, Pakistan would likely move its troops from the Afghan border to its border with India; a move which could damage the US hopes of defeating the Taliban in Afghanistan.

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