India, Pak ties critical to achieve peace in South Asia: US

Washington: India-Pakistan relationship is absolutely critical to achieving peace and stability in South Asia, the US has said, as it asserted that the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attack be brought to justice.

India-Pakistan relationship is "absolutely critical to achieving peace and stability in South Asia," State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner told reporters when asked about the recent clash between the two countries at the UN.

Responding to another question, Toner said the US wants that the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attack - that left 166 people dead - be brought to justice.

"President Obama stated the Mumbai perpetrator's financiers, sponsors, must be held accountable for their crimes. We continue to follow the criminal proceedings closely, and urge additional actions to prevent such an attack from ever happening again. And recognize that this was a terrible tragedy for India," he said.

Noting that the relationship between India and the US is strong and growing, he said, "As (US) President (Barack) Obama said, India has the potential to be one of the great global powers in the 21st century. So, we want to see our cooperation deepen, both economically, politically and on security issues as well."

"In general, we want to see better, stronger, closer counter-terrorism cooperation, not only between the US and India, but of all the countries in the region, including Pakistan. We all need to be on our guard.

"We all need to be vigilant. We all need to cooperate and share information and intelligence where we can do that, in order to prevent future attacks," Toner said.