Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon is meeting Nato counterparts in Brussels on Thursday with the Kashmir crisis topping the agenda.

Mr Hoon and Prime Minister Tony Blair have already held talks with US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in London on the mounting tensions in Kashmir on Wednesday.

We are trying to secure a sequence of steps which will enable both sides to pull back from the brink

Jack Straw Foreign Secretary

The future shape of Nato and US hopes for more European spending on defence are also being discussed at the meeting.

The meeting comes after Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told Britons they should leave the India and Pakistan.

This upgraded advice issued last Friday that Britons should "consider" leaving both countries because of the "increased risk of conflict".

World dangers

Mr Hoon's talks on Thursday come before Mr Rumsfeld heads to nuclear rivals India and Pakistan on his peace mission.

In London, Mr Rumsfeld said: "We live in a dangerous and untidy world.

"This is not an easy time for the world."

Mr Hoon is calling for an end to the Kashmir crisis

There is increased pressure on India and Pakistan to step back from the brink of war, with US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage also embarking on a crisis mission to Pakistan and India on Thursday.

Jack Straw, who has said war is not inevitable, said efforts were being made to establish a series of steps which would enable both sides to "pull back from the brink".

With that done, a "proper dialogue" to resolve the longstanding dispute over Kashmir needed to start, Mr Straw told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

All options open

The foreign secretary refused to be drawn on whether Tony Blair or George Bush would personally visit Pakistan and India as part of the peace drive.

But no options were being ruled out, he added.

Mr Straw has said it is his duty of care to advise all Britons that they should leave India and Pakistan.

Rumsfeld is set to propose a review of Nato's command structure

There are about 20,000 British nationals living in India and around 700 in Pakistan.

The government was believed to be concerned that few Britons took its original advice about leaving.

Should war break out in the region, it would be too late to get British people out.

Those fears appear to be easing, with Gerry McCrudden, of the British High Commission in Delhi, saying Britons now seemed to be trying to leave.

Loose talks concerns

Visitors to India were warned of the risk of terrorist attack, particularly near key government installations.

On 22 May, the Foreign Office pulled out most of its staff in Pakistan and on Friday, it advised tourists to avoid all travel to India and Pakistan.

Ronen Sen, India's High Commissioner to London said "loose talk" about the prospect of nuclear war almost gave it a sense of legitimacy.

The two nuclear powers have long been at loggerheads over the disputed mountainous region of Kashmir.

War on terror talks

But officials have become alarmed by recent increased troop movements.

As well as the Kashmiri crisis, the defence ministers are also expected to discuss the post-11 September global campaign against mass terrorism.

Those discussions will concentrate on the implications of the imminent reorganisation and enlargement of Nato due at a Prague summit in November.

Mr Rumsfeld is expected to propose a review of Nato's command structure.

Spending worries

The alliance is also expected to draw up a shopping list of military kit to defend against weapons of mass destruction.

The main concern for the defence ministers, however, is expected to be the large gap in military spending between the US and its European allies.

Nato Secretary General George Robertson on Wednesday said European states were starting to spend more money, and more wisely, on defence.

If Europeans did not adapt their forces to the post-Cold War climate, they faced being marginalised, argued Lord Robertson.

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