US says Pakistan-India talks constructive for region

WASHINGTON: The United States believes Pakistan-India dialogue is always a positive and constructive step for both nations as well as the South Asian region, the State Department Thursday said after foreign ministers of the two nuclear neighbours met in New Delhi to push forward peace process.

Deputy spokesman Mark Toner, commenting on Wednesday's meetings, said it is "always a productive or constructive in our view to see the two countries talking."

"And it's constructive for the region, its constructive for both those countries," he said, after Pakistan's new foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar and Indian External Affairs Minister S M Krishna pledged to begin a new era in ties, often marked by acrimony in the past.

Toner was not "aware of what came out of them (meeting) specifically," but "we always view that kind of dialogue as constructive."

The spokesman, when asked about Washington's influence in the resumption of talks between the two regional powers, said he was "not aware of any direct or indirect role."

Now Islamabad and New Delhi are trying to get the process back on track through cooperative initiatives as well as pledges to tackle outstanding disputes including Kashmir.

The United States has had a high-stakes engagement in the region for over a decade now, developing bilateral relations with both Pakistan and India in the South Asia.

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2011