New Delhi, January 19, 2010, SPA -- The United States would like to help India and Pakistan focus less on each other and more on the terrorism threat, but the two countries prefer to settle their differences themselves, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday. «We're always interested in that,» Gates said as he flew to New Delhi for talks Tuesday and Wednesday with India's prime minister, defense chief and other officials. «Regional stability is very important for everybody involved. I think it's clear that both sides prefer to deal with this bilaterally.» Gates said India and Pakistan have demonstrated admirable restraint since the three-day terror attack more than a year ago in Mumbai, India, according to The Associated Press. Gates told reporters traveling with him, «Even within the framework of that attack and the suspicions that it created, the two sides have managed to keep the tensions between them at a manageable level.» In an opinion piece published Tuesday in the Times of India, Gates called terrorism «perhaps the greatest common challenge India and the United States face.» Gates said he will encourage the Indian officials to expand defense, information-sharing and logistical agreements with Washington. --SPA 13:01 LOCAL TIME 10:01 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/739451