WASHINGTON   -   The United States support “direct discussions” between India and Pakistan, saying the two neighbouring countries should work out the mode for the talks themselves, State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller has said.

“We value our important relationships with both India and Pakistan,”  he said in response to a question from a Pakistani TV channel reporter at his daily news briefing on Thursday.

“As we have said, we support direct discussions between India and Pakistan, but the pace, scope and character should be determined by those two countries, not by us,”  Miller  added. Relations between India and Pakistan have deteriorated since August 5, 2019, when New Delhi unilaterally annexed the disputed Himalayan region of Jammu and Kashmir, leading to heightened tensions between them. Official talks between the two countries have remained suspended since then.

Answering another question, he stated, “US and Pakistan both have a common goal of addressing regional security threats.”

“We partner with Pakistan on security through our high-level counter-terrorism dialogue, including several counter-terrorism capacity building programmes, and we support a series of US-Pakistan military-to-military engagements,” Miller said.

“We are in regular communication with Pakistani leaders as a part of our partnership on CT issues, and we will continue to discuss regional security in detail, including through our annual counter-terrorism dialogue and other bilateral consultations,” he added.