US offers post-9/11 expertise after attack

Washington: The United States has offered to share with India its best practices since 9/11 as it restructures its response to counter-terrorism in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks.

"We have offered to share our experiences, our best practices since 9/11, when we have gone a long way to restructuring," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in interviews with US television networks on Monday.

"They were grateful for that offer," she told CNN's Late Edition. "I think they are going to accept that."

While stating that Pakistan needs to take some concrete steps urgently, Rice noted, "Indians, too, were very focused on restructuring their own response to terrorism because one has a sense, as they said, of stove-piping of information - inability to share information."

Asked if US was willing to do the same with Pakistan, she said, "Well, we are sharing information and working with both Pakistan and India."

"Pakistan needs to act. India and Pakistan need to cooperate. And I do believe that if that is done, we can both bring the perpetrators to justice, also prevent a follow-on attack, which has to be of concern."

On Al Qaida's involvement in the Mumbai attacks, Rice said, "We don't have any evidence of a direct link there, but I do think that we all know that there are links between these organisations."

"They tend to travel in the same circles. And the sophistication of this attack is what everyone is focused on."

In reply to another question, Rice said, "It is very clear that Pakistan's principal problem here is not India."