NEW DELHI, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- Pakistan must take responsibility for terrorists inside its borders accused by India of the attacks on Mumbai, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said.

In a joint news conference with India's External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi Wednesday, Rice said, "The response of the Pakistani government should be one of cooperation and that is what we expect, and we have been sending that message."

Any response should be to "make certain that the investigation gets to the bottom of what happened, that the perpetrators are brought to justice," Rice said.

Mukherjee said there was "no doubt" that the bloody terrorist attack on India's financial and entertainment hub "was perpetrated by individuals who came from Pakistan and whose controllers are in Pakistan."

He said he briefed Rice about his discussions with Pakistan following last week's attack in which 170 people were killed.

Rice pledged that the United States would work closely with Pakistan "in any way that we can" in the investigation.

In matters of terrorism, Rice said "it is not just a matter of the punishment ... (but) also a matter of preventing these terrorists who continue to plot and plan" crimes and attacks in the future.

Rice said it was premature to comment on whether any particular organization was responsible for the attacks. Since it struck high-profile targets, including those frequented by foreigners, the assault appeared to be designed to "send a message," she said.

Afghanistan signs anti-cluster bomb treaty

OSLO, Norway, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai, in a change of heart, agreed Wednesday to sign an international treaty banning the use of cluster munitions.

"Until this morning, Afghanistan was not going to be a signatory," said Jawed Ludin, Afghanistan's ambassador to the Scandinavian countries and the leader of its delegation in Oslo, Norway, where the signing ceremony of more than 90 countries was taking place.

Ludin told The New York Times Karzai's shift was the result of pressure by human rights organizations and cluster-bomb victims.

Ludin's announcement was met by cheers in Oslo's City Hall, where the signing ceremony for the Convention on Cluster Munitions began Wednesday after two years of diplomatic work, the Times said. the treaty bars signatories from using, producing, selling or stockpiling cluster munitions.

Cluster munitions can be fired by artillery and rocket systems, or dropped by aircraft. They usually explode in the air, scattering dozens and possibly hundreds of bomblets over the target area.

"What we've adopted today is going to create profound change," said Jonas Gahr Stoere, Norway's foreign minister. "If you use or stockpile cluster weapons after today you will be breaking a new international norm."

Absent were the United States, Russia, China and Israel, the biggest producers and users of cluster munitions, human rights groups said.

Ludin said Afghanistan's reversal was possible because of an article in the treaty that permits signatory nations to engage in military operations with non-signatory nations.

British twin dies after separation surgery

LONDON, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- A few hours after she was separated from her conjoined infant twin sister, Hope Williams died Wednesday at a London hospital.

Doctors at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children said that the baby's lungs were not large enough to sustain her, The Guardian reported. Dr. Agostino Pierro, who headed the team that carried out the complicated surgery, gave her sister Faith a 50 percent chance of life.

The twins were born a week ago to Laura Williams, 18, of Shrewsbury, the youngest known mother of conjoined twins. Williams and her husband, Aled, had been warned three months into the pregnancy that the twins had a small chance of survival but decided against an abortion, the newspaper said.

The girls were born connected from breast-bone to navel and sharing a liver and several major blood vessels.

Pierro said that the surgery, which began Tuesday afternoon and ended at 7 a.m. Wednesday morning, was one of the most complex operations he has been involved with. He described Faith as being in stable condition.

"If everything goes well there will be more surgery required to close her tummy but I can't tell you now when the surgery will happen," Pierro said.

Normally, doctors prefer to wait to separate conjoined twins until they are older. But Faith and Hope had developed an intestinal blockage that threatened their survival.

Mexico gets U.S. help fighting drugs

MEXICO CITY, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- The U.S. government has provided Mexico nearly half of a $400 million aid package for its southern neighbor's ongoing battle against drug traffickers.

The $197 million giving to Mexico was released Wednesday at a ceremony in the Mexican capital led by U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza, El Universal reported online.

The release of the funds came at a time when drug violence has been on the rise in Mexican towns along the U.S. border.

The funding also follows last month's arrest of a top law officer working with Interpol after an investigation into alleged ties to Mexican officials and drug trafficking. Ricardo Gutierrez was placed under house arrest while investigators search for evidence of the alleged ties.

Mexican prosecutors said they had obtained information about Gutierrez from a drug trafficking suspect taken into custody this year.