The US has said it was encouraged by the "positive" signs that have emerged from the Indo-Pak maiden anti-terror meeting which concluded on Wednesday.
WASHINGTON: The US has said it was encouraged by the "positive" signs that have emerged from the Indo-Pak maiden anti-terror meeting which concluded on Wednesday and that it was in mutual interest of both the countries to continue the progress in the dialogue process.
"I think the signs are quite positive, and certainly the United States has been very encouraged," US Assistant Secretary of South and Central Asian Affairs, Richard Boucher told lawmakers at a hearing of a sub-committee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
"There are a number of new ideas in play on the question of Kashmir and dealing with some of the specific disagreements like Sir Creek and Siachen. But they're also discussing other things--confidence-building in nuclear and conventional forces. They just had this week the counter-terrorism discussions, the new mechanism to discuss terrorism problems and discuss the bombing of the train which affected them all so deeply," Boucher said.
Asked if he believed if the current framework for discussions made sense and it is in the mutual interest of both New Delhi and Islamabad to continue the progress, Boucher replied "Absolutely".
"I think it's quite positive. They've (India and Pakistan) both acted in a very statesman-like manner. They've expanded the range of discussions and I think the depth of discussions as well," he said on Wednesday.
The joint anti-terror mechanism held its maiden meeting in Islamabad where India and Pakistan agreed to exchange "specific information" to help investigations into terror-related acts and share information for "prevention of violence and terror acts in the two countries".
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