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US welcomes govt's move on talks

C K Arora in Washington

The United States has welcomed the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government's decision to receive Pakistani Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz in New Delhi on Saturday and have talks with him on defusing the war-like situation in the Kargil sector.

Addressing the media, US President Bill Clinton's special assistant on national security Bruce Riedel said the administration was encouraged by the development and that the visit of Aziz would help reduce tension between the two neighbours.

When an Indian correspondent drew his attention to the 'general impression' that the United States, as usual, was equating India and Pakistan, ignoring the fact that the latter had violated the Line of Control in Kashmir, he said he did not want to enter into the 'blame game' at this stage.

Instead, he stressed the need for maintaining the sanctity of LoC and opening up of bilateral talks between New Delhi and Islamabad to resolve the problem as early as possible.

UNI

The Kargil Crisis

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