U.S. envoy seeks to soothe India worries

n By Krittivas Mukherjee

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke sought on Wednesday to allay concerns in India that Washington's new regional strategy for Afghanistan is pandering to its old foe Pakistan.

Holbrooke, visiting New Delhi as special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, said India and Pakistan would need to work together to battle Islamist militancy in the region.

The envoy was on his first trip to India since President Barack Obama announced plans to boost troop numbers in Afghanistan, while helping Pakistan with more military and non-military aid.

India is uneasy that Obama's strategy fails to reflect its concerns about what New Delhi sees as Pakistan's backing of militants, analysts and government officials say.

There are also concerns that Pakistan wants a solution to disputed Kashmir as an element of any regional peace efforts, a condition that India rejects.

"We did not come here to ask the Indians to do anything, we came here to inform them about our trip as we always do and to get their views. We did not come here with any requests," Holbrooke told reporters.

Holbrooke, along with Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, met Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon.

"For the first time since partition India, Pakistan and the United States are facing a common threat and a common challenge," Holbrooke said. "But now that we face a common threat, we must work together and in the centre of that area is Pakistan." Many Indian analysts and officials worry Washington is biased towards helping Pakistan -- an old U.S. ally -- rather than India, which only in recent years has moved closer to the United States.