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Updated: Feb 23, 2019 08:21 IST

Describing the current situation between India and Pakistan as “very, very bad”, US President Donald Trump Friday said his administration was in contact with both sides and hoped hostilities would soon end in the Valley.

“Right now between Pakistan and India, there is a very, very bad situation. A very dangerous situation. We would like to see it (hostilities) stop. A lot of people were just killed. We want to see it just stop. We are very much involved in that (process),” Trump told reporters at the Oval Office.

The US president was responding to questions on last week’s terrorist attack in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir in which 40 Indian security personnel were killed. Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has claimed responsibility for the attack.

“India is looking at something very strong. India just lost almost 50 people in the attack. I can understand that too,” Trump said, adding that his administration was talking to authorities in both countries.

#WATCH US President Donald Trump says "There’s a terrible thing going on right now between Pakistan and India. It's a very very bad situation and it is a dangerous situation between the two countries. We would like to see it stop. Lot of people were just killed." #PulwamaAttack pic.twitter.com/oZAi4pRVsU — ANI (@ANI) February 23, 2019

“We’re talking. A lot of people are. It’s going to be a very, very delicate balance. There is a lot of problems between India and Pakistan because of what just happened,” he said.

The president said the US has improved ties with Pakistan and works are on for meetings with Pakistan leaders and officials.

“I stopped paying Pakistan the USD 1.3-billion that we used to pay them. In the meantime, we may set up some meetings with Pakistan. Pakistan was taking very strong advantage of the United States under other presidents. We were paying Pakistan USD 1.3 billion a year. I ended that payment, because they were not helping us in the way they should have,” Trump said.

#WATCH US Pres says, "I stopped paying Pak the 1.3 billion dollars that we were paying them. We may set up some meetings with Pak. Pak was taking strong advantage over US. We've had, we've developed a better relationship with Pak over the last short period of time than we had." pic.twitter.com/5b05CKDZvT — ANI (@ANI) February 23, 2019

He said the United States’ relation with Pakistan has developed in the last few months.