Indian Defence Secretary Ajay Prasad and a team of top military officials met US Under Secretary for Defense Policy Douglas Feith, to discuss common military interests between the two democracies.

During his trip to Washington Prasad also met other Bush administration heavyweights, including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers.

In a joint statement, the two sides warned of the danger that terrorists could acquire weapons of mass destruction and promised to work to secure peace in South Asia, Iraq and Afghanistan.

"The two sides reaffirmed the shared view that missile defense enhances cooperative security and stability," the statement said following the meeting of the Defense Policy Group (DPG).

"They decided to hold a missile defense workshop in India in the next six months," the statement said.

The Bush administration has stirred global concern with its plan to build a missile defense shield, which prompted its decision to pull out of the 1972 Anti Ballistic Missile treaty that banned construction of such systems.

The remarks on missile defense also come in the context of a struggle for ballistic superiority between India and its nuclear rival Pakistan.

Islamabad has accused India of proliferation following several missile tests.

Pakistan's own missile program has been under intense international scrutiny following allegations by unnamed US officials that it purchased missiles from North Korea in exchange for nuclear technology.

Islamabad has rejected the claims.

The two sides at the DPG also agreed on a series of joint defense exercises for the coming year and pledged to work to further their defense supply relationship.

New Delhi had been expected to persuade Washington to lift curbs on the transfer of dual-use and high-tech systems, the Press Trust of Indianews agency reported before the talks.

But there was no mention of such discussions in the statement.

The two sides also enshrined their joint commitment to work together in the cause of security for the people of Iraq.

New Delhi last month refused to send troops to Iraq as part of the US-led stablization force, due to the lack of a domestic consensus.

The United States and India resolved in the statement that the next meeting of the DPG would take place next year in New Delhi.

WAR.WIRE