By Krittivas Mukherjee

NEW DELHI, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram travels to Pakistan for a regional meeting this month, a visit that may lay the ground for improving ties which deteriorated after the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

P. Chidambaram's Feb 26-27 trip is the first high-level visit since the attacks and comes when India is showing a willingness to re-engage Pakistan, partly under U.S. pressure and because it is exhausting diplomatic options.

New Delhi blames the attacks on Pakistan-based militants and wants Islamabad to act against them.

Washington sees better India-Pakistan relations as crucial so that an Islamabad free of worry about its eastern borders can focus on fighting the Taliban on its western frontier, on the border with Afghanistan.

Foreign ministry officials said Chidambaram will meet his Pakistani counterpart, Rehman Malik, and other officials for talks that may have a narrow focus on what action Islamabad has taken in regard to the Mumbai attacks.

But the visit's larger goal could be to create a forum for limited dialogue, leading to a calibrated easing of tension.

"Any dialogue now will focus on what progress Pakistan has made in dismantling the terrorist network on its soil that was used to attack Mumbai," a senior government official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

"It could be a beginning that could help move things forward."