India and Pakistan need to keep taking steps to improve trust: US

WASHINGTON: Expressing concern about recent violence along the Line of Control, the United States today said India and Pakistan need to keep taking steps to improve trust and improve their relationship.

"We're aware of these reports and are concerned about any violence, as we always are along the Line of Control, and we continue to press and hope that India and Pakistan will continue the steps they have recently taken to improve their bilateral relations," said the State Department spokesperson, Marie Harf.

The United States believes that the pace, scope, and character of India and Pakistan's dialogue on Kashmir is for those two countries to determine, she said.

"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 said.

Harf insisted that Kashmir and extremism are two separate issues.

"I think we're talking about two separate issues here. I'd want to make a distinction between the Kashmir issue, and the broader issue of our concern about extremism in that region. Our position on Kashmir has not changed, and I have nothing further to add on that," Harf said.