President Bush said last night the United States is working hard to bring "calm" to India and Pakistan, which have massed troops on their border, and to stop their escalation of force.
Tension between the nuclear neighbours has increased sharply since a December 13th attack on India's parliament in which 14 people were killed, including the five assailants. Both countries have moved troops to their common border.
Speaking to reporters at his ranch in central Texas, Mr Bush praised Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf for arresting 50 "extremists or terrorists" and said he hoped New Delhi had taken note of the Pakistani leader's moves.
India and Pakistan were preparing yesterday for a protracted South Asian "Cold War" with harsh diplomatic sanctions in place and their armed forces staring each other down on the border.
Pakistan "stands for peace" and will never initiate a war with India, Gen Musharraf said yesterday as the two nuclear rivals stood poised for conflict on their border.
"Pakistan is passing through a difficult stage. There is tension on the border," Gen Musharraf told a dinner at the presidential palace.
"Pakistan stands for peace, we do not want war. We will never initiate a war unless it is thrust and initiated on us," he said.
The two sides have fought three full-scale wars since independence in 1947.
With analysts warning that only a diplomatic miracle can prevent war, Mr Bush said his Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, had spoken to the two nations to convince them to defuse tensions.
Gen Musharraf welcomed the move from Washington, which has also said it is concerned the rapidly escalating crisis could detract from its war on terrorism.
"They are showing a lot of concern and I know they are involved, certainly they are already involved and they are trying to reduce the tension and we appreciate that," he said.
Gen Musharraf pledged not to shift troops from the western border with Afghanistan, who are tasked with apprehending fleeing members of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror network, in order to bolster the frontier with India.
Earlier, the Pakistani military spokesman, Maj Gen Rashid Qureshi, said India's heavy troop reinforcements and the positioning of surface-to-surface missiles made it difficult for New Delhi to back away.
"It seems that the Indian government is putting itself into a corner where I think it would be difficult for them now to back off," he said.
"From all military concentrations and deployments we have seen, there seems to be at least a desire in the Indian government to attain a capability of offensive action."