ISLAMABAD, March 17 (Xinhuanet) -- US Secretary of States Condoleezza Rice here Thursday encouraged both Islamabad and New Delhi to continue their efforts to resolve their outstanding disputes including Kashmir and reaffirmed Washington's commitment to a broad-based, long-term partnership with Pakistan.

    Addressing a joint press conference with Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri, Rice said the United States would encourage Pakistan and India to continue to make progress in theircomposite dialogue process to improve relations and that it was important for them to remove barriers and enhance interaction.

    She expressed the hope that the two countries would be able to resolve all their disputes including the issue of Kashmir.

    Referring to the Pak-US relations, Rice said that the relationship between the two countries had gone beyond the war on terrorism and she admired the courage of Pakistani leadership, people and armed forces in the fight against terrorism.

    When asked about the nuclear proliferation by Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, who confessed early last year that hetransferred illegally nuclear secrets to other countries, Rice said Washington wanted "the Qadeer Khan network broken up" and that "the network represented a threat not only to the United States but also to Pakistan, the region and the international community as a whole."

    "The United States has had cooperation with Pakistan to try andmake sure that the Abdul Qadeer Khan network is broken up and it is not able to operate again in any way," Rice stressed.

    Kasuri expressed satisfaction with the progress made with Indiaon a number of confidence building measures.

    He said that Pakistan desired durable peace with India and pointed out that this could only be achieved by resolving all outstanding issues, especially the Kashmir dispute, between the two neighbors.

    Earlier, Rice and Kasuri had wide-ranging discussions covering bilateral, regional and international issues. They reviewed the bilateral cooperation and agreed to promote greater collaboration in the areas of security and defense as well as in the economic and technological fields.

    The two sides also touched on situation of Afghanistan, the UN Security Council reform, non-proliferation and the global war on terrorism.

    Rice arrived in Pakistan from New Delhi on Wednesday evening for the second leg of her 6-nation Asian trip.

    She met with Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on her arrival Wednesday and called on President Pervez Musharraf later that day. Enditem