Saturday, August 19 2006 12:13 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: The United States stands with India in the fight against terrorism and is fundamentally opposed to all groups that direct terrorism against it, according to a senior Bush administration official.

"The US is a great friend of India. We admire your democracy and civilization. Our two countries are developing a close strategic partnership," Nicholas Burns, under secretary of state for political affairs, said yesterday (Aug 18, 2006).

"We are fundamentally opposed to all groups that direct terrorism at India. We were saddened by the Mumbai bombings, and stand with India in the fight against terrorism," he said during an online interactive forum "Ask the White House".

Denying a suggestion from a questioner from India that the US government is taking measures against terrorist outfits of concern only to US and UK, Burns said as President Bush had reminded Monday, US is fighting a global war on terror that targets peace-loving countries around the world.

And as the president noted, the biggest lesson of the past week is that there is still a war on terror going on and there are still individuals who aim to kill innocent people to achieve political objectives, he said.

"US efforts to combat terrorism span the globe, including counter-terrorism training programmes in nearly 100 countries. It worked every day with other governments to help keep Americans safe and to help other governments keep their peoples safe," Burns said.