US not interested in Kashmir Issue

US has made it clear that it would turn clear of the Kashmir issue as it seeks to engage India and other key stakeholders in the region in its new policy for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

'We don't intend to get mixed up in that issue,' President Barack Obama's National Security Adviser, Gen James Jones, told reporters Friday when asked if the US expected to address issues between India and Pakistan, particularly Kashmir, as part of its new regional come up to.

'But we do intend to help both India and Pakistan build more trust and confidence so that Pakistan can address the issues that it confronts on the western side of the nation,' he said referring to Pakistan's tribal areas which Obama and other US officials have described as terrorist safe havens.

'But no, Kashmir is a unconnected issue,' Jones said. 'But we think that the times are so serious that we need to build the trust and confidence in the region, so that nations can do what they need to do in order to defeat the threat' posed by Al Qaeda and Taliban terrorist groups.

'As America does more, we will ask others to join us in doing their part,' he said referring to Obama Administration's plans to 'forge a new contact group for Afghanistan and Pakistan that brings together all who should have a stake in the security of the region.'

The proposed group will include America's NATO allies and other partners, the Central Asian states, Gulf nations, Iran, Russia, India, and China, Jones said noting, 'All have a stake in the promise of lasting peace and security and development in the reign.

America will change policies towards Pakistan, Afghanistan: Obama

After attack on Sri Lankan cricketers in Pakistan, US President Barack Obama has expressed deep concern about an attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Pakistan, saying the country's frontier regions still remain safe havens for Al Qaeda terrorists and his government was reviewing policies towards that region.

'The details are still coming in, and so I don't want to be too specific’, Obama told reporters Tuesday after meeting with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. 'O bviously we're deeply concerned.'

'The truth is that the situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated, the safe havens for Al Qaeda remain in the frontier regions of Pakistan and we are conducting currently a comprehensive review of our policies,' he said.

Obama said the review looked at US policy toward Afghanistan and Pakistan and coordination with NATO allies and other members of the international security force in Afghanistan.

He would make announcements ahead of the NATO summit in April about 'the direction the United States would like to go,' he said. 'What I'm confident in is that our strongest partner in that effort once again will be the United Kingdom' and Brown.

'We condemn this vicious attack on innocent civilians but also on the positive relations that Pakistan and Sri Lanka are trying to enjoy,' he said. 'This is an attack on peaceful, normal relations, and we utterly condemn this terrorist attack.'