While stressing that bilateral talks between India and Pakistan are key to reducing heightened tension in the region, United States Central Command Chief General David Petraeus has warned that any Mumbai-type terror strike in India will certainly 're-ignite' hostility between the two nuclear powered nations.
Testifying before the US Senate Armed Services Committee, General Petraeus said any significant terror strike in India will severely dent efforts to reduce strategic tensions between India and Pakistan.
General Petraeus pointed out that any major escalation in tensions on Islamabad's eastern border with India could adversely affect gains made in the country's northwest and tribal areas along the Afghan border.
"A major escalation in these tensions will almost certainly result in the immediate redeployment to the east of Pakistani forces currently deployed to confront militants in the West, risking forfeiture of gains in the Federally Administered Tribal Area and the North Western Frontier Province," The Daily Times quoted General Petraeus as saying.
"This suggests a need for India and Pakistan to continue discussions that begun on February 25 in order to reduce the strategic tension and the risk of miscalculation between these nuclear-armed states," he added.
General Petraeus said the United States is striving to see an improvement in Indo-Pak relations and it firmly believes that both countries should continue peace talks despite there being certain provocations.
