US President George Bush has assured Prime Minister (PM) Manmohan Singh that US will not mediate between India and Pakistan, news website ibnlive.com reported here Friday.

The website reported quoting anonymous sources that Bush told the PM that even as Pakistan was an important ally in the war on terror, US will not mediate in the affairs of the two South Asian neighbors.

Bush has also told the PM that he appreciated India's positive role in the Afghanistan crisis and was concerned over the rapidly- spreading terror network. Another area of concern was the human rights violations in Myanmar.

The statement assumes importance in the light of an interview that Bush gave to Pakistani journalists in Washington before leaving for his five-day tour to India and Pakistan.

Bush said that the United States supported a solution of Kashmir issue "acceptable to all sides."

He said that the United States believed that Kashmir could be resolved if the two nations made a determination to sit down and come up with a mutually-agreed solution and that U.S. role would be one that would lead to a settlement between the two sides.

Bush had also praised Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's leadership in dealing with terrorists and his personal courage in the face of assassination attempts.

India has been vehemently against a third-party mediation into the Kashmir issue.

Source: Xinhua