(edited by me for brevity)
India's Deputy Prime Minister, Lal Krishna Advani, begins three days of talks in Washington with the Bush administration that will touch on a project, which if realized, would shift the geostrategic tectonic plates of Asia. The importance the administration has given to Advani's visit, which begins on Monday, is indicated by whom he will see. They are Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who he has already met, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice. When Advani sees Rice, President Bush is expected to drop by. The dispute between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, and its attendant Islamist terrorism, will certainly figure in the talks. The administration wants to see an end to this source of instability in South Asia, the cause of two wars between India and Pakistan and that has come close more than once to starting a third.
Important as Kashmir is, Advani and his American interlocutors will also be talking about something much grander. Rice gave a vague hint of what was in the air when she told the media early this month the talks would reflect the fact that India is the world's biggest democracy "and we share a lot in value." As well as sharing a lot in value, the United States and India share a lot in interests. These include instability in Pakistan where, in Indian eyes at least, President Pervez Musharraf is a spent force and Islamist violence is threatening the country. But more important still is a shared uneasiness, if not downright fear, of China, seen as aspiring to become the regional hegemon. 
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