ISLAMABAD -- U.S. President Bill Clinton will travel to Pakistan on March 25, on the last leg of his South Asian journey, which began last Sunday. But the few hours he plans to spend in Islamabad may represent more than just a passing phase in Washington's new diplomacy in South Asia.
If Clinton succeeds in convincing both India and Pakistan to rein in their recently intensified activity along the temporary border in the disputed state of Kashmir known as the Line of Control, he will have taken an important step toward promoting peace in a volatile region.
In the two years since India and Pakistan detonated nuclear devices in May 1998, world attention regarding South Asia has been focused on encouraging nuclear restraint on the part of both antagonists.