Giving credit to the leaders of India and Pakistan for trying to resolve the Kashmir issue, the United States has said that it has no direct role in the process except to 'nudge' them.

"Our official stance is that it (the Kashmir issue) has to be resolved," Richard Boucher, the top US official in charge of South and Central Asia, said at the Center for Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University on Thursday.

"I think everybody will like to see the Kashmir issue resolved. This has been a great source of tension between India and Pakistan over the years," said the senior State Department official.

"They have had a very productive process between India and Pakistan over the last few years where statesmen and leaders on both sides have moved this forward and have had a lot of discussions in very great detail. So we encourage them," he said.

"We are not directly involved. We are not in the middle. We are not going to jump in, partly because they are doing pretty well and they don't want us to jump in," Boucher said. He added that during discussions on the topic with officials from both the countries, "the United States has been told that it can only 'nudge'.

"So we become the nudge officially; and we nudge them and encourage them. But they have been carrying the ball forward and it is a credit to leaders on both sides and we hope they continue doing so," Boucher said.