India offers to revive talks with Pakistan

The United States has been pressuring the countries to resume talks, which would free Islamabad to concentrate on its fight against Taliban militants, a key to U.S. strategy in Afghanistan.

India, which blamed Pakistan-based militants for the 2008 attacks in Mumbai, made the offer despite its continued insistence that Pakistan has not done enough to rein in Muslim extremists in its territory.

Pakistan has been seeking a resumption of the talks for months, but officials stopped short of accepting the offer.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi called it a "positive step." He said the talks should resume from the point at which they had been put on hold by India after the Mumbai attacks, a clear indication that Pakistan wants a return to the nations' dialogue.

It remained unclear, though, whether India would go that far. That dialogue, which covers a broad range of issues and had been intended to lead toward a full normalization of relations, remains a sensitive issue in New Delhi because of continuing doubts about Islamabad's resolve against terrorist groups.