Nick Childs BBC foreign affairs correspondent

The US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, has ended his visit to India and Pakistan expressing hope that a solution can be found to the crisis between India and Pakistan.

He left Delhi clearly confident that the crisis between the two countries has abated.

The border escalation shows no signs of ending

Tensions were easing even before Mr Powell arrived in the region.

But that was due in part to intense US diplomacy in the weeks since the attack on the Indian parliament in December which sparked the crisis.

Washington was anxious not only about confrontation between these two nuclear rivals in itself, but also what impact that would have on its campaign in Afghanistan.

Slow process

It is not over yet. Fears persist that the tensions could still spin out of control.

There is also concern in Washington that it will prove a slow process getting the two to back away from their military mobilisations.

Mr Powell has spoken of a staged process.

That would involve:

• The dampening down of rhetoric
• Confidence building measures that might include the restoration of travel links
• Military de-escalation

The crisis may cast a shadow over US relations with both Delhi and Islamabad.

But a side-effect of the events since the 11 September attacks on America and the stand-off between India and Pakistan is that they appear to have cemented a much greater US involvement in the region.

That was underlined by the fact that, while Mr Powell was in Delhi, the Indian Defence Minister, George Fernandes, was in Washington, signing a new technology agreement with his US opposite number, Donald Rumsfeld.