Kerry begins first India tour

US Secretary of State John Kerry yesterday urged a greater role for India on Afghanistan and climate change as he sought to revive stuttering cooperation between the world's two largest democracies.
On his first visit to India as the top US diplomat, Kerry tried a few words in Hindi, pressed his hands in a traditional namaste greeting and quoted Mark Twain who said the diverse land was the sole country all people want to see.
Kerry firmly supported an involvement in Afghanistan for India, which is desperate to avoid a return of the Taliban once US troops leave but whose aid and diplomacy are viewed with suspicion by mutual neighbour Pakistan.
Kerry said that India had a "central role" in ensuring free elections due in April next year in Afghanistan. A week after a false start in US dialogue with the Taliban, Kerry acknowledged that a final settlement "may be long in coming".
Kerry, who will meet the Indian leadership today, devoted most of his speech to climate change in what his aides said was a signal that the scourge will be a top priority for him as secretary of state, much as it was when he was a senator.
After expressing his condolences for the victims of devastating floods in northern India, Kerry said that "it appears as if, in many ways, in many places, Mother Nature is telling us to heed the warnings".