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After years of tensions, India and Pakistan have been engaged in a sustained “composite dialogue” since the beginning of 2004. In the post 9/11 context, General Musharraf has started to change Pakistan’s traditional regional policy, but is still opposed to the Indian “solution” to the Kashmir issue: to accept the Line of control as a permanent divide, bridged however by a policy of “soft border” allowing renewed relationships between the two sides of Kashmir, and new trade links between India and Pakistan. Islamabad and its military ruling elite have therefore to decide if a new paradigm is required, in order to adjust to the new status gained by emerging India, as New Delhi is able to get the noted support of the US administration, while normalizing as well its relationship with China.Jean-Luc Racine is Director of Research at the Centre d’études de l’Inde et de l’Asie du Sud (CEIAS-CNRS) in the Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS, Paris).