The US still considers Pakistan a key ally in its "war on terror", President George W Bush has told visiting Pakistani PM Yousuf Raza Gilani.
After talks, Mr Bush said Mr Gilani had made a strong commitment to securing Pakistan's border with Afghanistan.
The issue has caused strain in recent months, with the US urging Pakistan to move against Islamic militants.
The talks came as a top al-Qaeda figure was reported to have been killed in a missile strike in the border area.
Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar, a leading chemical weapons expert who the US says trained militants in Afghanistan, was reportedly killed along with six others in South Waziristan in a strike on Monday.
It was suspected to be a strike by US forces, but this has not been confirmed.
US and Afghan officials say Taleban and al-Qaeda militants have established their strongholds on Pakistan's western border from where they carry out attacks into Afghanistan.
 Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar has been reported killed before |
The US has recently expressed misgivings about Pakistan's handling of Islamic militancy in the area, while Pakistan has complained that attacks inside its borders could bilateral relations. On his first trip to Washington since taking power in February's elections, Mr Gilani used the meeting to tell Mr Bush that his country was committed to fighting extremists.
"We talked about the common threat we faced, extremists who are very dangerous people," Mr Bush told reporters during a break in his talks with Mr Gilani.
Missile attacks
On the issue of US missile attacks targeting militants on the Pakistani side of the border, Mr Bush said: "The US respects the sovereignty" of Pakistan.
Mr Gilani stressed Pakistan's desire to improve relations with Washington.
He was also expected to meet the Democratic and Republican presidential hopefuls, Barack Obama and John McCain.
Despite Mr Bush's public praise, it was expected that Mr Gilani would hear some tough words in Washington, the BBC's Kim Ghattas in Washington reports.
The Pakistani prime minister is also scheduled to meet senior US officials, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defence Secretary Robert Gates.
In recent months the US and its allies have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in military and other forms of assistance to help Pakistan's new government tackle militancy in border areas.
Earlier this month, Mr Gates said he was considering sending additional troops to Afghanistan to counter the flow of insurgents from Pakistan.
Washington has also said it is concerned about peace deals that Islamabad has been signing with some of the radical groups in its western tribal-dominated areas.
Warning
The Pakistani government says the peace deals will bring stability to the volatile regions.
But Washington argues this gives the militants too much room to manoeuvre and increases the threat to Nato troops across the border.
 |
US military commanders have warned that if there is ever another attack against the US, it will be planned in those areas.
But there will be statements of support - and possibly action - to back them as the US seems keen to encourage the fragile transition from military to civilian rule in Islamabad, our correspondent says.
Last week, President Bush announced that he wanted to allow Pakistan to upgrade its F-16 fighter jets by using two-thirds of the annual counter-terrorism aid it gets from the US.
But the US Congress has criticised the move, saying the jets are not essential to the fight against the militants in the tribal areas.
ARTCLES SOURCE: http://news.bbc.co.uk
No comments:
Post a Comment