India's Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani said he would brief the Bush administration on the unabated terrorist threat in Jammu and Kashmir and vowed to defeat what he called the "proxy war" launched by Pakistan. He was speaking at a reception hosted in his honour Sunday night by Indian Ambassador Lalit Mansingh at the Omni Shoreham hotel, hours before his discussions Monday with President George W. Bush's National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice and other senior officials. Without naming Pakistan, Advani said he would apprise his interlocutors of the role of "our neighbour" in aiding and abetting terrorism in Kashmir. Avoiding any direct comment on the U.S. policy on Pakistan, he said: "India's view is that no civilised society or a democratic society would support or provide aid to such countries which, directly or indirectly, sponsor terrorism."

Deputy Prime Minster L.K. Advani has assured the U.S. that India would decide on deploying Indian troops in Iraq as part of a stabilisation force after "taking into consideration all aspects of the issue". Advani gave the assurance when U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld raised the issue at an unscheduled meeting Sunday at the Willard Hotel where Advani is staying after arriving here as part of a 10-day visit to the U.S. and Britain. Later, an embassy spokesman said Advani and Rumsfeld also discussed bilateral issues and expressed satisfaction at the "pace and the progress" of the growing defence cooperation between India and the U.S. The next meeting of the Defence Policy Group of the two countries will be held here on August 6 and 7.

The US and Pakistan are expected to sign a trade and investment framework agreement during President Pervez Musharraf's forthcoming visit to the country, official sources told Dawn on Friday. The framework agreement is the first step towards a free trade agreement and will enhance Pakistan's exports to this country by giving it a better access to US markets, the sources said. The details of this agreement will be worked out during the current visit of Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar to Washington. Akhtar on Friday met deputy national adviser to President Bush, Gary Edson, and Under-Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Alan Larson. He also met US Commerce Secretary Donald Evans at the Department of Commerce.