The US Defense Secretary Mr Donald Rumsfeld will begin a trip to Europe and Asia tomorrow that will mix consultations with US allies with a bid to ease tensions between India and Pakistan.
A senior US defense official said Mr Rumsfeld will visit India and Pakistan but the dates for that portion of the trip as well as for stops in Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait were not yet firm.
His first destination will be London where he meets Wednesday with British Defence Minister Geoff Hoon before traveling to Brussels for a two-day meeting of NATO defense ministers later this week.
Mr Rumsfeld will also meet with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov who will be attending the first meeting of the recently created NATO-Russian council.
After Brussels, the secretary will make a stop in Germany to visit a base for NATO AWACS aircraft and then fly to Talinn for a meeting of Baltic Defense Ministers.
He was expected to head to Asia after the meeting in Estonia. The defense official said the trip was still open-ended with Mr Rumsfeld possibly not returning to Washington before the end of next week.
AFP