NEW DELHI (AP) — A top U.S. official says Washington is eager to finalize a civilian nuclear pact with India, and is urging it to work with neighboring Pakistan in the fight against terrorism when they resume peace talks this week.

The agreement to provide India with much-needed nuclear fuel is seen as a cornerstone of the emerging alliance between New Delhi and Washington after nearly a half-century of Cold War estrangement.

It has strong supporters in both U.S. political parties and was overwhelmingly endorsed by the House of Representatives in July.

The Senate, however, must still approve the deal, and Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Richard Boucher said he was "very hopeful" the matter would be taken up by the outgoing Senate.

"We want to do it as fast as possible because it is important to the U.S.," he told reporters in New Delhi Friday.

"We made a deal. We want to implement it as agreed as soon as we can," he said. "We are determined to do it. Whatever happens, we will make sure, it happens."

The pact is not expected to be affected by the Democrats' midterm election victory in which they took control of Congress. On Thursday, Democratic leaders in the Senate, including Sen. Joseph Biden, the top Democrat on the Senate foreign relations panel, said they were ready to move ahead with the India bill.

The deal reverses decades of U.S. anti-proliferation policy by shipping civilian nuclear technology to India in return for safeguards and inspections at certain nuclear plants. Critics say the deal would ruin global nonproliferation efforts.

Congress must approve the agreement because India has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which current U.S. law requires for such nuclear cooperation.

Even if Congress should complete its work, several other steps remain before the plan can be implemented, including approval of the Indian exemption by the Nuclear Suppliers Group, an assembly of nations that export nuclear material.

Boucher, who is on a swing through South Asia and visited Pakistan before heading to India, also said New Delhi and Islamabad must work together against terrorism as they reopen peace talks that were stalled by July's train bombings in Mumbai, which killed 207 people.

The two-day talks begin Tuesday in New Delhi, and Boucher said "we hope they can make progress on some of the big political issues that stand between India and Pakistan."

"I am confident that both sides are getting together to try to achieve progress on issues, to try to work together against terrorism," he said.

The nuclear rivals have fought three wars since the bloody partition of the subcontinent after independence from Britain in 1947.

They began a peace process in 2004, and have since taken several fitful steps to improve relations.

But the process broke down after the Mumbai bombings, which India says were carried out by Pakistani militant groups with links to that country's intelligence service — an allegation Islamabad denies.

However, Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed to resume talks when they met in Havana, Cuba, on the sidelines of the Nonaligned Movement Summit in September.