Washington: US President George Bush has committed America's influence to alleviating, and where possible, ending "destructive regional conflicts from the Middle East to Kashmir, to the Congo and beyond," Bush's National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice said on June 27.

She was addressing the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.

"True peace will come only when the world is safer, better and freer. That is why we are helping Afghans and Iraqis build representative governments that will serve the decent aspirations of their people. That is why we are committed to building a global trading system that is more and more free, to expand the circle of prosperity into the Americas, Africa and the Middle East.

"That is why Bush has proposed a 50 per cent increase in US development assistance, with new funding going to countries that govern justly, invest in the health and education of their people, and encourage economic liberty.

"That is why the President has announced--and the Congress has approved--a multi-billion-dollar commitment to fight AIDS (Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome), a disease that threatens whole societies and challenges our humanity.

And that is why the President has committed America's influence to alleviating --and, where possible, ending--destructive regional conflicts, from the Middle East, to Kashmir, to the Congo, and beyond," Rice said.

PTI