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Pakistan’s handling of intrusion sends right signal: Kerry

* US senator to help enhance US ties with Pakistan and Afghanistan
* Senator Bond says drone strikes will continue

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s adept handling of the ‘technical intrusion’ by Indian warplanes has sent positive signals to India, US Senator John Kerry told reporters at the US embassy on Tuesday.

He said there had been some miscommunication between the two countries initially after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai last month.

But Kerry said India would not be satisfied merely by words. "It has to be shown some action."

Kerry, who is visiting the region to defuse tensions between India and Pakistan following the Mumbai attacks, was appointed the chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee back in Washington on Tuesday.

Pakistan and Afghanistan: In a statement after the appointment, Kerry vowed to work with other members of the committee to help strengthen US co-operation with Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Kerry's predecessor and now vice president-elect Joseph Biden is the co-architect of a legislation that aims at enhancing Pakistan assistance to $1.5 billion over a decade. As senator, president-elect Barack Obama was also one of the sponsors of the legislation.

"I look forward to working with all members of the committee to help strengthen America's hand in Afghanistan and Pakistan, work towards global climate change solutions, and end the war in Iraq responsibly. We have a big agenda ahead of us, just as our country faces big challenges across the globe," Kerry said in a statement released by his office.

Drone strikes: Meanwhile, US Senator Christopher Kit Bond said on Tuesday that US drone attacks on ‘high-value targets' in Pakistan’s Tribal Areas would continue.

He told journalists at the US embassy that the army chief and the ISI director general had raised the issue in their meetings, “and I told them that attacks were against high value targets".

Asked if there were plans of a joint Indo-Israeli attack on alleged terrorists camps in Pakistan, Senator Bond who arrived in Pakistan from Israel, said the idea was 'far fetched'.

Also on Tuesday, a delegation of US senators met NWFP Governor Owais Ghani, who said the government had made substantial progress against terrorism because of its policy of three Ds – dialogue, development and deterrence. sajjad malik/agencies

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