The correct answer is C.

The exhibit shows the neighbor state as Connect in the State/PfxRcd column. The study guide explains the BGP states exactly as follows:

“Connect: Waiting for a successful three-way TCP connection”

“OpenSent: Waiting for an OPEN message from the peer”

“Established: Peers have successfully exchanged OPEN and keepalive messages”

Because the router is still in Connect state, the TCP three-way handshake has not completed yet. In practical terms, the local router has sent the TCP SYN but has not successfully received the SYN/ACK needed to complete the handshake. That is why C is correct.

Why the other options are wrong:

A is wrong because the message counters alone do not prove that the neighbor is unreachable. The study guide says the State/PfxRcd field shows the BGP state when the session is not established, and here that state is specifically Connect

B is wrong because waiting for an OPEN message happens in OpenSent, not Connect

D is not the best answer for this output. The study guide ties the displayed state directly to the protocol phase: Connect means the device is still waiting for a successful TCP handshake

So the verified answer is: C.