Washington: Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal, who is visiting the US, had wide-ranging discussions, including on India-Pakistan situation and Iraq, with top officials of US State Department.

Sibal spoke on February 3 with Marc Grossman, Under Secretary for Policy, followed by a meeting with Paula Dobriansky, Under Secretary for Global Affairs and Environment. He also met Douglas Feith, Under Secretary for Defence, at the Pentagon.

The Foreign Secretary will have more meetings with US officials on February 4, including one at the National Security Council. He will sum up his impressions in a talk at the Carnegie Endowment in the evening, followed by a press conference.

It is believed that the talks covered a very wide field, ranging from Iraq, where India desires peace; Indo-Pakistan situation, with India reaffirming that there can be no dialogue with Islamabad unless and until it gives up cross-border terrorism.

The talks also covered the ever-closer relations between India and the United States in the strategic and other fields, global issues, and regional issues, including the situation in Afghanistan where India and the US have a common interest in peace, progress and stability.

PTI