New Delhi  - US special envoy Richard Holbrooke held discussions on regional security with top Indian officials Wednesday following a visit to Pakistan and Afghanistan, officials said.

Holbrooke, President Barack Obama's special representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan, and US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen met with India's Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and National Security Advisor MK Narayanan in New Delhi.

The NDTV network reported that India's concerns over Obama's new policy on Afghanistan and Pakistan dominated the discussions.

Holbrooke is also believed to have discussed ways in which New Delhi could cooperate in US efforts to "defeat" terrorism originating from Pakistan and Afghanistan, the PTI news agency reported.

India has expressed concerns over Obama's new policy that doles out a 7.5-billion-dollar financial package to Pakistan in return for greater commitment to fight the Taliban and al-Qaeda militants.

Indian officials question the rationale of military and economic assistance, saying Pakistan has not been held accountable for the resurgence of Taliban in the region.

New Delhi had earlier turned down Washington's request to resume a bilateral peace process with Pakistan. It said the dialogue will not commence until Pakistan dismantled the terrorist infrastucture on its soil.

India calls Pakistan the "epicentre of terrorism" that abets Islamist militant groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba, which was behind the attacks in Mumbai last November that killed at least 170 people.

Local media reports said India had also withstood US pressure to reduce its troop levels along the borders with Pakistan so that Islamabad could focus on its western frontiers.

The Indian security establishment has argued there is a real danger of the violence spilling over into India, with reports indicating that militants could infiltrate into the troubled India-administered Kashmir in the coming weeks.

The two senior US officials arrived in India late Tuesday night from Islamabad, where Holbrooke said the United States and Pakistan face a "common strategic threat, a common enemy, a common challenge and therefore a common task."(dpa)

Holbrooke told reporters the US had no plans to negotiate between India and Pakistan but stressed that the neighbouring countries should work toward peaceful relations.