US happy to see India, Pakistan talking

New Delhi, Jun 25: Even though the Indo-Pak secretary-level talks ended without any major breakthrough, the United States expressed its satisfaction over the positive bilateral ties between the two neighbouring nations.

"We are very gratified to see the two sides (India and Pakistan) talking and we look forward to the outcome," State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said.

"We were just very pleased to see them talking," Nuland said in response to a question.

Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir termed the two-day talks as "substantive and constructive". During the talks at Islamabad, both countries decided to conduct another Foreign Ministers level talk in New Delhi in July 2011.

During the talks, Nirupama Rao raised India's concerns over the slow pace of trial of 2008 Mumbai terror attacks accused and "worrisome aspects" of terror links of ISI, as revealed in the trial of Pakistani- Canadian terrorist Tahawwur Rana in Chicago.

Nirupama Rao also told Pakistan that the complex issue of Kashmir cannot be resolved under the "shadow of gun and extremist violence".

Foreign Secretaries also discussed conventional and nuclear confidence building measures (CBMs).

"We have been fully conscious of the complexities of our relationship and the consequent need to take incremental steps to promote mutual confidence and understanding," Nirupama Rao said after the meet.

OneIndia News