U.S. Presses India, Pakistan to Keep Talking

Washington: Reiterating its hands-off policy on Kashmir, the United States has expressed the hope that the two South Asian neighbours will continue the steps they have recently taken to improve bilateral relations despite recent border tensions.

The U.S. was "concerned about any violence, as we always are along the Line of Control (in Kashmir)," State Department spokesperson Marie Harf told reporters when asked about tension between the two nations following the killing of five Indian soldiers.

"We continue to press and hope that India and Pakistan will continue the steps they have recently taken to improve their bilateral relations," she said.

"Beyond that, I don't have anything further except to reiterate what we've always said, that they need to keep taking steps to improve trust and improve their relationship," Harf said.

In response to another question about Kashmir, the spokesperson said: "We believe, as we always have, that the pace, scope, and character of India and Pakistan's dialogue on Kashmir is for those two countries to determine.

"These are discussions that happen in those two countries among their own two governments, and that's the appropriate place for that determination to be made," she added.

Seeking to make a distinction between the Kashmir issue and "the broader issue of our concern about extremism in that region," Harf said: "I would emphasize that those are two separate issues and that I think our views on both are well known."

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