NEW DELHI — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton promised Tuesday to give full U.S. support to Indian efforts to protect itself from terror attacks, less than a week after a triple bombing killed 19 people in the financial capital of Mumbai.
The fight against terror, India's concerns over nuclear-armed rival Pakistan and U.S. withdrawal plans for Afghanistan were expected to dominate talks between Clinton and Indian officials in New Delhi.
"We are allies in the fight against violent extremist networks. And homeland security is a high priority and a source of increasing partnership," Clinton said at the start of a meeting with S.M. Krishna, India's foreign minister.
The two countries have already signed agreements to cooperate in counterterrorism efforts, Clinton said.
"The events in Mumbai have driven home how important it is that we get results," she said.
The attacks in three busy Mumbai neighborhoods last week were the worst terror strike in the country since 10 Pakistan-based gunmen rampaged through Mumbai in 2008, killing 166 people. Police have yet to name suspects in the blasts.
Clinton did not mention Pakistan during her remarks, an apparent sign of the difficult balancing act the U.S. is trying to play between its two competing allies.
The U.S. is eager for fragile peace talks between India and Pakistan to pick up steam, in part to allow Pakistan to focus its forces on the chaotic Afghan border.
Once frosty relations between India and the United States have warmed considerably in recent years as Washington has looked to democratic India as stable ally in the turbulent South Asia region and its growing economy as a valuable market for U.S. goods.
President Barack Obama hosted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at his first state dinner and visited India for three days last year, praising it as a new regional power.
Clinton, who arrived in New Delhi late Monday, was meeting throughout Tuesday with top officials, including Singh and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, as part of a new round of U.S.-India strategic dialogue established last year to deepen ties between the world's oldest and largest democracies.
The Obama administration is keen to allay Indian concerns of a resurgence in Islamic extremism following the planned withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan that began this month, officials traveling with Clinton said.
Clinton is expected to outline the drawdown strategy and stress that the United States will not support Afghan reconciliation with insurgents unless it is inclusive and protects the rights of minority groups, religions and women, the officials said.
The U.S. and India both have significant stakes in Pakistan. Indian officials accuse Pakistan of supporting extremists behind multiple terrorist attacks on its territory, while U.S. officials fear it is not fully committed to combatting radical plots, such as the failed 2010 Times Square bombing in New York.
Clinton said Tuesday's talks would focus on cooperation in security and nuclear energy. But she also stressed deeper economic ties as a major issue. Many Western officials have looked to India's rising economy and its 1.2 billion people as a coveted market to help stimulate growth in their own troubled economies.
"Each of our countries can do more to reduce barriers, open our markets, and find new opportunities for economic partnership," Clinton said. "Taking these steps is in our mutual interest. We can improve millions of lives and increase both of our nations' economic competitiveness."
She praised India's fight against piracy, and pushed for greater sales of U.S. arms to India — the world's largest arms importer — as a way of deepening security cooperation between the two nations.
U.S. officials were annoyed earlier this year when Indian officials chose two European companies as finalists for an $11 billion order for 126 fighter jets. However, last month India signed an agreement to buy 10 Boeing C-17 cargo and troop-carrying aircraft for more than $4 billion.
Clinton also called for a resolution of disputes on the two nations' nuclear energy deal.
A new Indian law extends liability in the case of a nuclear accident to the suppliers of the plants, making it difficult for private U.S. companies to compete against state-owned French and Russian companies in India's multibillion dollar nuclear reactor market.
However, India remains scarred by the legacy of the 1984 gas leak at a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal that killed an estimated 15,000 people in the world's worst industrial disaster. Union Carbide paid $470 million in compensation in a heavily criticized settlement.
During the talks Tuesday, the two countries signed an agreement promoting closer cooperation in cybersecurity.
From New Delhi, Clinton on Wednesday will move on to the southeastern port of Chennai, where she plans to deliver a speech on the importance of U.S.-Indian relations, the benefits of enhanced bilateral commercial ties and India's role in South Asia and the greater Asia-Pacific region.
Chennai is home to numerous and growing U.S. investments. In May, Ford Motor Co. said it would spend $72 million to expand an engine plant in the city to support sales and export growth and help the company build more fuel-efficient engines for India and other markets.
Clinton is in India on the third leg of a 12-day, around-the-world diplomatic tour that has already taken her to Turkey and Greece. After India, she will visit Indonesia, Hong Kong and southern mainland China before returning home July 25.
Ravi Nessman can be reached at http://twitter.com/RaviNessman