Washington:
Observing that India and Pakistan are making efforts to restart their dialogue in a "serious way", the US has said it is cautiously optimistic about the process.
"I see some early efforts on the part of both officials in India and Pakistan to restart their dialogue in a serious way to get back to discussing confidence building measures. We're cautiously optimistic about that process," Michele Flournoy, US Under-Secretary of Defence for Policy, said.
"I have not personally seen the impetus for that coming from the ranks of the military (in Pakistan) at this point," Flournoy said at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York recently, according to a copy of the transcript provided by the Pentagon here.
Due to the "cutoff" in the US-Pak relationship in a certain period, Washington had "lost visibility" into a generation of Pakistani military officers, that "is now rising into this sort of one-star, two-star ranks. And so it's hard for us to have a good feel for that," she said.
However, she said, she has seen at the highest levels in Pakistan, on the civilian side in particular and at some level in military, there is an effort to reopen discussions with India.
"I think they realise there's value in trying to make some progress to rebuild some confidence," Flournoy said in response to a question.