Washington, Feb 26: Commending the Indo-Pak leadership for the “courageous” step of holding the Foreign Secretary-level talks, the US has said the two countries have realised that only they can resolve their differences bilaterally.
“I think both countries realise there are lots of important issues that only they can resolve between them, but the United States has encouraged the dialogue and we obviously hope that it will be productive,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told lawmakers at a Congressional hearing.
 “We are heartened by the fact that they are resuming a dialogue,” she said responding to questions from the members of Foreign Affairs and Related Programmes Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee.
 On the meeting between Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir in New Delhi yesterday, Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs P J Crowley said it was a “very encouraging step”.
 “We certainly commend the leadership for (showing) political courage and making sure that the meeting takes place. Now, the challenge is to build on this,” he told reporters here.
 Though not much visible progress was made during yesterday’s meeting, Crowley said “the very fact that the top officials of two countries met in itself is very encouraging.”
 “There were some events recently where some elements were trying to derail the prospect of this meeting because they recognise that this has been beneficial to both countries in the past, it was a courageous step to open the door to dialogue again,” he said.
 “The Obama Administration has have long encouraged the restoration of dialogue between the two countries. It is an important step for Pakistan and India, and we commend the political leadership in both countries,” Crowley said.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 26 Feb 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 27 Feb 2010 00:00:00 IST