Washington:
Behind the warm handshakes and smiles, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh began his Washington mission with some plain speaking on Pakistan, Afghanistan and David Headley.
Singh highlighted the continued threat of terrorism emanating from Pakistan and its lack of will to punish those responsible for 26/11, as he met President Barack Obama and secured an assurance with regard to access to David Headley.
Obama also promised to keep in mind India's concerns over the end-use of the US military supplies to Pakistan after Singh voiced apprehensions in this regard. The US President said he favoured reduction of tensions between India and Pakistan but the Prime Minister made it clear that the "future of South Asia would be determined by the manner in which terrorism is tackled".
Obama said the US was working through legal processes for giving India access to Headley. "He (Obama) was fully supportive of our request for provision of such access," Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao told reporters.
During the nearly hour-long meeting at the Blair House, Singh emphasised that Pakistan needed to take "convincing action" against those responsible for Mumbai attacks, she said. Obama said the US understood India's concerns with regard to activities of Lashkar-e Taiba and other terror groups from Pakistan and Afghanistan and that Washington was "engaging" Pakistan on these issues.
While talking about the menace of terrorism emanating from Pakistan, Singh referred to Headley,activities of LeT and its chief Hafiz Saeed and HuJI terrorist Ilyas Kashmiri, Rao said. "Unfortunately, there is no will on part of Pakistan to punish those responsible for terrorist attacks in Mumbai," Rao quoted the Prime Minister as telling Obama.
In response to the Prime Minister's plainspeak, the US President said all the right things. But will America walk the talk? Will they really put enough pressure on Pakistan to go after LeT? And how far do they really support india's interests in Afghanistan?
(With inputs from PTI)