Washington: The Indo-Pakistan situation at present is the best in the three years of the Bush administration and the US is urging both countries to continue with the confidence- building measures (CBMs) undertaken by them, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said.

"We are urging both sides not to lose the momentum that they themselves have developed. And Prime Minister Vajpayee (Atal Bihari Vajpayee), since his rather dramatic statement in Senegal, has had his desire to reach out a hand," Armitage said in an interview to 'The Financial Times' released by the State Department.

"Whether they will actually grasp each other, we will see. Right now they're enormously in a better place than they were just two months ago with both the ceasefires at the Kashmir Line of Control and the Siachen Glacier, with the high-level visit exchanges, high-level diplomatic exchanges, and the public announcement by the Prime Minister he's coming to the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation).

"So both sides have, I think, greatly modulated the rhetoric and, at least for the three years that this administration has been around, it's the best place that India and Pakistan have been in," Armitage told the paper.

PTI