Washington: President George W Bush is strengthening US relations with both India and Pakistan, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice has said.

This is "a development that will help bring stability to South Asia and help that region build the economic dynamism and co-operation that now characterises East Asia," Rice wrote in 'The Wall Street Journal'.

The bulk of the article is devoted to "Our Asia Strategy," meaning mainly East Asia.

She writes that there was a time in the 1990s when America's friends in Asia began to doubt America's commitment to the region.

"On October 24, President Bush returns home from his six-nation visit having sent a clear signal, not only are we in Asia to stay, we are working with our allies and partners across the region to advance alliances, promote open trade and investment, and bolster the forces of democratic change and tolerance in ways that seemed unachievable only a few years ago."

PTI