US envoy to India visits Pakistan

In an unusual visit, US Ambassador to India Timothy J Roemer stopped over in Pakistan on Tuesday while returning from Kabul.

In an unusual visit, US Ambassador to India Timothy J Roemer stopped over in Pakistan on Tuesday while returning from Kabul.

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The ambassador visited Afghanistan on Monday and stopped in Pakistan for a day on his way back to India, a US embassy official said in New Delhi on Wednesday.

He refused to comment on speculation about his motives for visiting Pakistan. He visited these countries to have consultations with his counterparts in Kabul and Islamabad, the official said.

According to sources, Roemer visited some India-aided projects in Afghanistan. The timing of the visit, coming as it does days after the prime ministerial talks between India and Pakistan in Bhutan, has set off speculation in New Delhi and Islamabad.

The envoy announced his intention to visit Afghanistan a few days ago, but there was not a hint of his going to Islamabad at that time.

According to Dawn, Pakistan's leading daily, Roemer met Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi. He discussed with Pakistani leaders a possible model of re-engagement between India and Pakistan after the Thimphu accord between the prime ministers of the two countries to resume talks, said the report.

US embassy officials declined to comment on the report.

The US has welcomed the re-engagement between India and Pakistan. India suspended dialogue with Pakistan after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks in which several Pakistani militants were involved.