"In some sense you've got two leaders whose nationalist credentials are challenged at home and in that sense they are both weak going into these talks," Feinstein said.
The talks were initiated when the Bharatiya Janata Party governed India but it was ousted in recent elections. Pakistan views India's new government as weak, and it lacks officials with significant security experience, Cohen said.
"I think the Pakistanis believe they have strongly supported us in the war on terror and if the Indians are not forthcoming in terms of concessions on Kashmir, the talks will run down pretty quickly. That sets the stage for another crisis in fall or winter," he predicted.
RSS