Powell sees role for UN peace-keepers

America is discussing a possible role for United Nations peace-keepers in Afghanistan during any transition to a new government, Colin Powell, the Secretary of State, said.

Travelling to Shanghai yesterday for the annual Asia-Pacific economic summit, where he plans to rally support for the US campaign , General Powell said he was consulting the UN about bringing stability to Afghanistan once the action was over, possibly involving the former king, Zahir Shah.

The UN, he said, had wide experience of post-conflict peace-keeping in areas such as East Timor and Kosovo, adding: "I think there probably will be a role for peace-keepers of some kind and that's part of our discussions." General Powell has had talks in India and Pakistan, which yesterday said it was on high alert because of Indian troop movements in Kashmir.

India said the movements were "routine". Despite American pleas for calm , the two nuclear-armed rivals have been exchanging gunfire across the line of control this week in the heaviest clash so far this year.

The US Secretary of State raised Indian hackles while in Pakistan by saying a solution should "accommodate the aspirations of the Kashmir people", and describing Kashmir as central to India-Pakistan relations. The Indians insist Kashmir is a domestic matter, and that the central issue is Pakistan's sponsorship of "cross-border terrorism".

They were mollified, however, when General Powell said America condemned "terrorism" wherever it happened. "The United States and India are united against terrorism, and that includes the terrorism that has been directed against India as well," he said.