US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Christina Rocca has started meeting a string of Nepali ministers and officials, discussing ways to fight Maoist insurgency in the Himalayan Kingdom and address root causes of the seven-year-old conflict that has claimed over 7,000 lives.

Rocca arrived in Kathmandu late on Thursday night on the first leg of her South Asia tour. This is Rocca's third visit to the Himalayan Kingdom. She will leave for Islamabad on Sunday.

On Friday, Rocca met Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand at his official residence and discussed matters of mutual interest. She also held discussions with Royal Nepal Army Chief General Pyar Jung Thapa and inquired about the ongoing military operations against Maoist guerrillas.

She also met Foreign Minister Narendra Bikram Shah and other foreign ministry officials. In the evening, Rocca was scheduled to have an audience with King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev.

After the Maoist insurgency intensified in Nepal last year, US government increased its assistance packages to Nepal. for 2002. The Bush administration has approved development assistance of over $ 35 million and military assistance worth nearly $ 17 million to Nepal.

Former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba met President George Bush in Washington in May and Nepal joined the US-led global coalition to fight terrorism after September 11, 2001.

That followed US Secretary of State Colin Powell's historic visit to Nepal in January this year.

Rocca, who accompanied Powell then, had said she was in Nepal to "understand the dynamics of the [South Asian] regional geo-politics."

Nepal is sandwiched between two giant and populous neighbours -- India to the south, west and east and Tibetan autonomous region of China to the north.

Rocca's third visit to Nepal comes barely a month after the underground Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) owned up responsibility for the murder of two security guards working for the US embassy in Kathmandu.

While India has assisted Nepal with two Cheetah helicopters and other military hardware worth millions of rupees, United Kingdom is in the process of supplying two helicopters to the Royal Nepal Army as part of its non-lethal military hardware assistance to Nepal.

Before Rocca, British Permanent Under Secretary at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of UK, Sir Michael Jay, visited Kathmandu on December 6.