Home Minister P Chidambaram is set to meet US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington on Thursday night.
On top of the agenda, for this visit to the US is to convince Washington to exert pressure on Pakistan to take action against those behind 26 /11.
A task, experts say is easier said than done as the US needs Islamabad's support to fight the Taliban in the war in Afghanistan.
"The dilemma is while you want Pakistan to move in that direction, the question is how far do you push without undermining the political clout of Zardari at home. That is the fine line the US is walking," said Professor Walter Anderson, Associate Director, South Asia program, School of Advanced International Studies.
The Home Minister is likely to remind America that both US and India have been victims of terror and both stand to lose if the terror groups that attacked India in November are not reined in.
"This is not something the US can fix with a magic wand. I think you can be quite sure that the US is pushing in the direction that India wants but at the end of the day it is a political process for the governments of both Pakistan and India," said Ambassador Teresita Schaffer, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
Convincing the US to take on Pakistan for inaction against the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks is not without its challenges. The Obama administration is in an awkward spot: trying to balance its professed determination to fight terrorism globally while at the same time not alienating the government in Pakistan - its ally in the war on terror.
On top of the agenda, for this visit to the US is to convince Washington to exert pressure on Pakistan to take action against those behind 26 /11.
A task, experts say is easier said than done as the US needs Islamabad's support to fight the Taliban in the war in Afghanistan.
"The dilemma is while you want Pakistan to move in that direction, the question is how far do you push without undermining the political clout of Zardari at home. That is the fine line the US is walking," said Professor Walter Anderson, Associate Director, South Asia program, School of Advanced International Studies.
The Home Minister is likely to remind America that both US and India have been victims of terror and both stand to lose if the terror groups that attacked India in November are not reined in.
"This is not something the US can fix with a magic wand. I think you can be quite sure that the US is pushing in the direction that India wants but at the end of the day it is a political process for the governments of both Pakistan and India," said Ambassador Teresita Schaffer, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
Convincing the US to take on Pakistan for inaction against the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks is not without its challenges. The Obama administration is in an awkward spot: trying to balance its professed determination to fight terrorism globally while at the same time not alienating the government in Pakistan - its ally in the war on terror.
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