Leon Panetta, the chief of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States, has concluded a series of meetings with Union home minister P. Chidambaram and Indian officials during a stopover here to discuss security threats in the South Asian region.
Mr Panetta flew here from Islamabad, Pakistan, where he had held talks with President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf 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 Union home secretary Gopal Pillai, RAW chief K.C. Verma and Intelligence Bureau head Rajiv Mathur. US ambassador to India 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 forthcoming visit to India by US President Barack Obama and the situation in Afghanistan.
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.
The Central Intelligence Agency chief was expected to travel to Seoul, South Korea, where he would call on President Lee Myung-bak.