Washington, Mar 18 (ANI): The top US military officer has said Pakistan is now stable, after facing multiple challenges over last many years, and that Washington and Islamabad can now reset their bilateral relationship in a mutually beneficial way.

I think the best thing we've done over the past several months - you know, the incident occurred on November 26 and here we sit on March the 16th. I think the best thing we've done is we've not conducted our engagement with them with a microphone, The Dawn quoted General Martin Dempsey, Chairman Joint Chiefs Staff, as saying.

Dempsey's comments in an appearance on popular Charlie Rose Show came as Parliament in Islamabad prepared to debate the best way forward in the country's relations with the United States, which were severely strained following the November 26 NATO airstrikes on tribal border posts which killed at 24 Pakistani soldiers.

We've communicated with them directly. We've communicated with them privately.e're back in close contact with them along the border, he said.

We have been in conversations about our military to military relationship, about our foreign military sales, about some of the common challenges of terrorism, and they have asked to be given time in their parliamentary process to have some internal discussions about what the new relationship might be, but I'm personally optimistic that we can reset the relationship in a way that meets both of our needs, Dempsey added.

On being asked if he believed that Pakistan is now stable, in the wake of years of grappling with the militancy challenges, the chairman Joint Chief Staff responded: I do believe Pakistan is stable today.

At the same time, he felt that there are some trend lines that would be concerning for both them and us in terms of migration of various terrorist groups. (ANI)