US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday she was "encouraged" by recent efforts by India and Pakistan to get their stop-start peace process back on track.
India suspended a four-year peace process with Pakistan after attacks in its financial capital Mumbai in November 2008, but the nuclear-armed neighbours have recently held a number of meetings and agreed to resume talks.
"We are encouraged by the dialogue occuring between India and Pakistan," Clinton told reporters in the Indian capital.
"We think it is the most promising approach, to encourage both sides to build more confidence between them and work to implement the kinds of steps that will demonstrate the improved atmosphere that is so necessary for us to deal with the underlying problem of terrorism."
The Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers are to meet in New Delhi next week, the latest in a string of high-level contacts that both sides are eager to present as confidence and trust-building exercises.