New Delhi, Oct. 2: Mr Leon Panetta, chief of the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States, on Saturday concluded a series of meetings with the Union home minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, and Indian officials during a stopover here to discuss security threats in the South Asian region.
Mr Panetta flew in here from Islamabad where he had held talks with the Pakistan President, Mr Asif Ali Zardari, and the Prime Minister, Mr Yousaf Raza Gilani. His visit there followed reports about Western intelligence agencies uncovering an Al Qaeda plot hatched in Pakistan to carry out attacks in Britain, France and Germany.
In New Delhi, Mr Panetta called on Mr Chidambaram and held meetings with the Union home secretary, Mr Gopal Pillai, the RAW chief, Mr K.C. Verma, and the Intelligence Bureau head, Mr Rajiv Mathur.
The US ambassador to India, Mr Timothy Roemer, accompanied Mr Panetta to the meeting with the home minister. They are understood to have discussed bilateral and regional issues, such as the visit to India by the US President, Mr Barack Obama, beginning on November 7, and the situation in Afghanistan.
The meetings were seen as a platform to further cement sharing of intelligence in tackling terrorism. American Embassy officials remained tightlipped on the visit of Mr Panetta. “We do not comment on intelligence issues,” they said.
Sources said the issue of terrorism that continues to emanate from Pakistan, and the threats from the Taliban to the South Asian region, also was discussed at some length by them, besides counter-terrorism and sharing of intelligence.
Mr Panetta’s visit is the first by a top US official after a National Investigation Agency (NIA) team questioned 26/11 suspect David Coleman Headley in May in Chicago. Mr Panetta had last visited India in March 2009.