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US team to provide clarifications on Iraq stabilisation force

June 12, 2003 21:01 IST

A team of American officials will be in India on Monday to provide clarifications with regard to the contribution of troops to the US-led stabilisation force in Iraq.

"It will be a one-day affair and the External Affairs Ministry will be playing the lead," a ministry spokesman said on Thurday.

India mainly wants clarifications on the need for a stabilisation force, the duration for which it is needed and under whose command it would function.

The Pentagon team will be led by Peter Rodman, assistant secretary of defence for international security affairs, and comprise representatives of defence and state departments.

The team will apprise the Indian side of the post-war situation in Iraq and plans for its reconstruction and stabilisation, sources said.

The US has been keen on India's participation in the stabilisation force in Iraq because of the country's track record in the realm of peacekeeping operations.

President George W Bush, during his unscheduled meeting with Deputy Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani in Washington on Tuesday, had raised the issue.

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