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Some positive steps by Pak., but not enough: Rice

WASHINGTON: Pakistan has taken some "positive steps" after the Mumbai terror attacks for which India has blamed a Pakistan-based group but "they are not nearly enough", according to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

During her recent visit to the region to show solidarity with India and ask Pakistan to deal with the terror groups operating from its territory, she found that civilians "were very much in charge and making decisions", Rice said at an event here.

"It's a new civilian government just finding its footing in Pakistan. But it seemed to me that the civilians were very much in charge and making decisions," she said when asked if the civilian government in Pakistan has control over its military, security forces and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

"And thus far, we've seen some positive steps, though they're not nearly enough at this point," she said at the event at the Council on Foreign Relations, according to a transcript released by the State Department on Saturday.

Rice said she "didn't hear a different line from the military and from the civilians".

Rice said after the Mumbai attack "it was obviously a very serious situation and the president (George Bush) wanted me to go and to express our solidarity with India and condolences there".

The top US diplomat said she had to also "deliver a very strong message that, of course, Americans had also died in that attack. And so this was also of concern to the United States."

Rice noted that since the 2001 crisis over Kashmir, the US "has developed a very strong relationship with India".

"It has broadened and deepened, and I do think it has helped us through this crisis, because there's a level of trust with India that I think was not there in 2001 when we had to get through the military mobilisation that attended the crisis in Kashmir," she said.

The US also has a good relationship with the new civilian government in Pakistan, Rice said, "But there, the message had to be, you need to deal with the terrorism problem."

In reply to a question about a drop in America's standing internationally, Rice differed, saying: "I think I could also note that in some of the most populous countries in the world - China, India, and Vietnam - America's standing has never been higher."

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