But, his lumping India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Kashmir together, is likely to raise New Delhi's [Images] concern once again about an Obama's Administration's aggressive diplomacy to attempt to resolve the imbroglio in Kashmir.

Appearing on NBC's 'Meet the Press' program on Sunday, when reminded of his campaign rhetoric that the US reserves the right to unilaterally go after  terrorists if actionable evidence is available of targets of opportunity in Pakistan, and asked if India has the same right now, Obama said, "I am not going to comment on that."

"(But) What I am going to restate is a basic principle. Number one, if a country is attacked, it has the right to defend itself. I think that is universally acknowledged," he asserted. "The second thing is that we need a strategic partnership with all the parts in the region -- Pakistan and India and the Afghanistan government -- to stamp out the kind of militant, violent, terrorist extremists that have set up base camps and that are operating in ways that threaten the security of everybody in the international community."

Last week, when he introduced his security team and was asked the same question, Obama replied, "Sovereign nations obviously have a right to protect themselves."

But, in a comment that is likely going to rankle New Delhi, Obama said during his 'Meet the Press' appearance, "As I said before, we can't continue to look at Afghanistan in isolation. We have to see it as part of a regional problem that includes Pakistan, includes India, includes Kashmir, includes Iran."

Thus, he said, "Part of the kind of foreign policy I want to shape is one in which we have tough, direct diplomacy, combined with more effective military operations, focused on what is the number one threat against US interests and US lives -- and that's Al Qaeda [Images] and their various affiliates -- and we are going to go after them fiercely in the years to come."

When asked if he would acquiesce to Pakistani President Asif Zardari's expectation that he expects Obama when he takes over the presidency to re-examine the current Bush Administration policy of using unmanned missiles for attacks on terrorist camps in Pakistan, which has resulted in civilian casualties too, Obama said, "What I want to do is to create the kind of effective strategic partnership with Pakistan that allows us in concert to assure that terrorists are not setting up safe havens in some of these border regions between Pakistan and Afghanistan."

"So far President Zardari has sent the right signals," Obama said, and pointed out that "he's indicated that he recognises that this is not just a threat to the United States, but it is a threat to Pakistan as well -- there was a bombing in Pakistan just yesterday that killed scores of people -- and so you're seeing greater and greater terrorist activity inside Pakistan."

He said, "This democratically elected government understands that threat and I hope that in the coming months that we are going to be able to establish the kind of close, effective, working relationship that makes both countries safe."

Obama was circumspect when asked about his controversial plan he had spoken of, also  during his campaign to appoint a special envoy to trouble-shoot between India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir problem, saying, "My first job is to make sure that my national security team -- Secretary of State designate Hillary Clinton [Images], (Retired General) Jim Jones [Images], who will be my National Security Adviser, (Defense Secretary) Bob Gates, my UN Representative Susan Rice and then my intelligence folks when they get appointed -- that we come up with a comprehensive strategy."

"I have enormous confidence in Senator Clinton's ability to build alliances and to send a strong signal that we are going to do business differently and place an emphasis on diplomacy," he added.