Secretary of State Colin Powell -- who mounted an initiative to cool tensions after a December attack on New Delhi's parliament blamed by India on Pakistan-based militants -- intervened again as political temperatures rose over the weekend.

Powell spoke to Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf in the latest of a series of calls, which have also included conversations with India's Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

"He's always looking for what the United States can do and how we can help ease the tensions between them, and that's the context of the phone call," said Boucher.

"We have made clear what our strong concerns are about the potential for conflict between India and Pakistan.

"We think the surest way to lower tensions and resolve the disputes between the neighbors is through more dialogue between them, not less. That makes it important to keep their channels of direct communication open."

That appeared to be a reference to India's decision Saturday to order Pakistan's high commissioner (ambassador) out of the country. Boucher declined to make a direct criticism of the decision.

Boucher also confirmed Armitage would go to South Asia in the latest US bid to quell tensions in the near future, after saying Friday the Bush administration was considering sending a high-level envoy.

Armitage's visit was styled by a senior State Department official as a continuation of US efforts to still tensions which have been simmering since last year, rather a new peace shuttle.

Earlier, Pakistani officials in Islamabad said Armitage would be travel to the region during the first week of June. Boucher was unable to provide dates for the mission, but officials said early June would likely turn out to be right.

President George W. Bush's national security advisor Condoleezza Rice meanwhile warned India to avoid war, but sweetened her remarks with praise for its fight against terrorism.

"We expect the Indian government to recognize that war will help no one here; that neither side, Pakistan nor India, is going to benefit from war," she said.

"We recognize the statesman-like stance that India has taken in recent months, starting with the attack on the Indian parliament."

With US-South Asia diplomacy accelerating, following the visit of US assistant secretary of state Christina Rocca to the region last week, Armitage met the top civil servant in India's defense ministry, Yogindra Narain.

Narain, India's defense secretary, is in town for a three-day India-US Defense Group meeting hosted by the Pentagon starting Tuesday.

A spokesman for the Indian embassy said the talks would run "the whole gamut" of India-US defense relations.

Indian press reports said Narain would give US officials what India believes to be evidence of the involvement of Pakistani intelligence services in terror attacks in Kashmir and elsewhere in India.

India says Pakistan has done too little to stop militants infiltrating its territory, while the United States, which counts Musharraf as a key ally in its anti-terror campaign, has declined to comment on the issue on recent weeks.

The United States is widely seen as the only power capable of averting war between India and Pakistan, which both vie continuously for US affections, and have massed hundreds of thousands of troops on one another's borders.

Washington is concerned that any conflict could set off a disastrous nuclear exchange -- and could also detract from its campaign against terrorism.

The immediate flashpoint for India-Pakistan tensions was Kashmir, where the two sides traded artillery fire across the border.

Kashmir was the site of a massacre six days ago by Islamic rebels on a military camp near Jammu, the state's winter capital, which left 35 people dead.

earlier related report
Indo-US Joint Military Manoeuvres Have Long-Term Goals: US Official
 New Delhi (AFP) May 14, 2002
The largest ever Indo-US military manoeuvres currently being conducted in the northern Indian town of Agra reflect a growing strategic cooperation between the world's two biggest democracies, a visiting US official said Tuesday.

US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Christina Rocca told a conference organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry that the "most topical area" of the emerging Indo-US partnership related to military-to-military relations.

"The specific goal of the military exercise is to conduct joint parachute training and mutual familiarisation with small arms," said Rocca.

"But the larger, long-term goal is much more ambitious and is based on strategic, diplomatic and political cooperation as well as sound economic ties. Indian and US military forces are now actively developing the capability to work together effectively. I anticipate more exercises to follow Agra."

American special operations forces and India paratroopers began their their first war games in 39 years on May 11.

The air-backed exercises, near the world-famous Taj Mahal monument in a facility where India's military trains its elite para commandos, will continue for two weeks.

India backed the US-led coalition against terrorism and offered logistical support after Washington launched military operations in October against Afghanistan's Taliban militia.

India has held military manoeuvres with Britain, France and Japan in recent years, besides conducting anti-piracy sea patrols off the Malacca Straits between Indonesia and Malaysia with the US navy.

Some 50 US policy-makers have visited India since last July and an equal number of Indians, including Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and members of his national security team, have travelled to Washington.

The contacts increased after September 11 and peaked following fresh military tensions between India and Pakistan over an attack on the national parliament in New Delhi in December.

The United States has since been engaged in intense diplomacy to hold the nuclear-armed powers back from all-out war.

Indian army chief S. Padmanabhan visited the United States in April shortly after Washington agreed to sell eight Firefinder artillery-locating radars worth 146 million dollars.

The contract was the first US defence deal in more than a decade with India, which historically has looked to Russia for the bulk of its hardware.

India and Pakistan drew US-led sanctions after they carried out rival nuclear tests in 1998 but the restrictions were lifted soon after September 11.

Rocca added that "non-proliferation remained an important item" in the bilateral relationship.

"One area in which there is great scope for cooperation is on export controls," said Rocca.

"We are confident that the Indian government shares our concerns about preventing the spread of sensitive technologies since the diffusion of weapons of mass destruction and missiles pose a serious threat to the security of both our countries."

Uttara Choudhury in New Delhi contributed to this report

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