US Army Chief to visit Kashmir Friday
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Srinagar, India, Oct 17, IRNA
India-Kashmir-US
As tensions heighten on the Pakistan- Afghan border, India is cozying upto the US in Kashmir, another tense theater in the region.
The US Army Chief, General George W Casey, who arrived in India on a three-day visit Thursday, is expected to travel to disputed Kashmir briefly on Friday.
The US Army Chief will be treated to an exclusive tour of the base camp of the world's highest battle field, the Siachen Glacier, in frontier Kashmir district of Ladakh by the Indian Army, sources confirmed.
The visit of Gen Casey comes at a time when tensions in the region are high with US cross border operations inside Pakistan increasing, and the discontent in Kashmir at a worrying pitch for India.
The visit to Siachen Glacier (18,000-22,000 feet) amid increased involvement of the US in the region is loaded with symbolism, observers here say.
Siachen has been a bone of contention between India and Pakistan since the mid 1980s.
The visit begins a day after Pakistani National Security Adviser Mehmud Ali Durrani returned to Islamabad after talks with his Indian counterpart MK Narayanan on Siachen and other contentious issues.
During the US general's India visit, according to news reports, the defence establishment will hold a lengthy discussion with him on the emerging security scenario in South Asia, particularly in the wake of heightened tension along the Pak-Afghan border.
The US has stepped up pressure on Pakistan for more action against militants operating from the Pakistani soil in recent months.
Of late, India has been accusing Pakistani security agencies of renewed efforts to push militants into Kashmir where a mass uprising in recent days has put a spanner into New Delhi's works aimed at calming down the restive population.
Indo-US defence ties have now grown even stronger in the wake of the recent signing of the Indo-US nuclear deal between the two countries.
Defence minister A.K. Antony had also visited the US in September.
Casey's visit also comes just ahead of the Indo-US naval exercises that are slated to start in the Arabian Sea later this week, another indication of close defence ties between the two countries.
In the naval exercises the US Navy will be represented by several of its naval vessels, including the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan.
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