US will help Pakistan reconcile with India

The US has said it will support the new Pakistan government's efforts to reduce tensions and reconcile with India and pushed Islamabad to wield a "very solid" civilian control of its powerful military.

"The United States will support Pakistan's efforts to develop fruitful links with its neighbours and with the community of responsible nations," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said accepting her first first honorary degree at Air University, Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base in her home state of Alabama.

This includes, Rice said, "Intensified Pakistani-Afghan dialogue on regional security, continued efforts to reduce tensions and reconcile with India, and closer economic integration with the nations of South and Central Asia."

Replying to a question from the cadets, she said, "Pakistan now will need to find a way to have very solid civilian control of the armed forces."

Stressing that the region was of vital interest to the US, she noted growing strategic partnership with India as factors which reflected the US' improved position across South and Central Asia.

"From our partnerships with the newly democratic Pakistan and a free Afghanistan that is fighting the Taliban, not governed by it, to our growing strategic partnership with India and our improved relationships all the way across South and Central Asia, the United States is in a dramatically different and better position in this region than we were in 2001," Rice added.