Mulford said "It is complex and you would be mistaken to seize on a statement that is particularly irritating to you or proves a point of some kind to you that are standing back waiting and seeing the effort it is achieving."

He said the US view was that the Pakistani government has "responded cooperatively with us".

Insisting that Pakistan is "very concerned" about the situation, the Ambassador said "they (Pakistan) have made some efforts early on to offer a delegation to come to India to cooperate and exchange information which is not being accepted and they have recently agreed to hand over information and cooperate with the government here.

"The question is what is the level of cooperation going to be. How forthcoming is it? Is it enough to satisfy people here of their credibility of the party to cooperate with."

He said one should not "get lost with some of the detail ... because I think we all understand there has to be a level of cooperation to move from here."

Asked how long India should wait for Pakistan to respond, he said "it is not a question of time, although time is important, because to get into a situation where so much time passes, it makes them look uncooperative.

"But you do have to sort of gauge what is happening, what their own situation is and what sort of problems they are facing. And don't forget, the US is in regular touch with them because of its own losses."

... contd.