Keep talking, says US

washington: even as the curtain comes down on the agra summit, the united states is pushing for continued high-level talks between india and pakistan as the best means resolving long standing bilateral disputes. washington has also welcomed the prospect of prime minister vajpayee's visit to islamabad. senior administration officials, who have been waiting for the joint declaration at the end of the summit before responding to the events in agra, reacted circumspectly ahead of a verdict on whether or not the meeting was a success "we strongly support sustained engagement at a senior level between india and pakistan as the best way to address long standing bilateral disputes and reduction of tensions through peaceful means. the agreement on further talks gives us reason to hope this meeting will be start of such a continuing process," a state department official told the times of india. a similar reaction is expected at the official state department briefing scheduled at 10.30 p.m ist. the white house is also "kicking around" a statement along similar lines and is expect to release it after the joint declaration from delhi, sources said. notably, washington made no specific mention of the k-word that pakistan is so intent on nailing down. the summit has evoked little interest here outside the mainline print media. the big story in washington these days is the case of the missing intern (chandra ann levy) and her affair with a california congressman (gary condit). there is saturation coverage on television of the affair and little of anything else. the talks between russia and china and parleys in the middle east made it to the cable network headlines ahead of the bickering in the subcontinent. but there is plenty of interest in the outcome of the summit in diplomatic and strategic parlours, both within and outside the administration. even as the summit winds down, the pentagon is revving up its planes for the visit to india on wednesday of chief of joint staff henry shelton, the highest-ranking military official to visit the country in a long, long time. shelton is expected to be in india july 18-20 and meet with the cream of indian military and political leadership. shortly after shelton's visit, it will be the turn of the new assistant secretary of state for south asia, christina rocca, who will make a familiarization trip to the region. rocca, who leaves washington on july 21, will be the touring the region for a little more than two weeks, most of the time in india. she is also expected to go to nepal and pakistan, but not to sri lanka or bangladesh.