April 2003 - Vajpayee offers to begin peace talks
India Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee offered Pakistan the "hand of friendship," signifying his nation was prepared to begin peace talks. Although Vajpayee later lost re-election, his speech spurred a process of dialogue between the two nations.

June 2004 - India and Pakistan sign nuclear test ban
India and Pakistan signed a ban on nuclear weapons testing and established a hotline for the purpose of warning against nuclear threats.

November 2004 - India partially withdraws troops from Kashmir border
India withdrew approximately 1,000 troops from the Kashmir border as a show of good faith toward Pakistan by India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

April 2005 - Bus service across Kashmir opens
A bus service opened between the Indian and Pakistani border in Kashmir, reuniting people divided for over 50 years. Though the bus service ran infrequently, it was seen as a watershed moment in the peace process.

October 2005 - India and Pakistan sign security accords
India and Pakistan agreed to provide notification of any future surface-to-surface ballistic missile tests. In the accords, the two nations also signed off on a joint communication system between their coast guards.

July 2006 - India blames Mumbai train bombings on Pakistan-based terrorists
A series of train bombings in Mumbai, India, killed 186 and wounded more than 1,000. India blamed the attacks on the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyiba militants, but Pakistan denied any involvement.

September 2006 - India and Pakistan agree to fight terrorism
At a summit in Cuba, leaders from India and Pakistan announced a new policy of cooperation in the fight against terrorism. The statement diverged from India's usual message of blaming terrorist attacks on Pakistan. Reversing course, India acknowledged that Pakistan, too, faces terrorist threats and the two nations need to fight radicals together.