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Relief work best to improve U.S. image: Cheney

B. Muralidhar Reddy

Tours quake hit areas in PoK

ISLAMABAD: United States Vice-President Dick Cheney arrived here on Tuesday on a symbolic visit to express solidarity with Pakistan in managing the crisis thrown up by the October 8 earthquake and pledged continued support from Washington for the relief and rehabilitation efforts.

In the course of his brief stop over, Mr. Cheney discussed with President Pervez Musharraf a broad range of subjects of mutual interest and toured some of the affected areas in the earthquake zone.

Mr. Cheney, who was in Kabul on Monday for the inaugural of Afghanistan's Parliament, made it a point to visit Pakistan to reiterate the point repeatedly made by Washington that the U.S. desired a long term strategic relationship with Pakistan.

Days after the October 8 earthquake, U.S. Secretary of State Condaleezza Rice made a similar visit. Her visit was followed by several political and business delegations to mobilise support for the quake hit.

Mr. Cheney is quoted by reporters accompanying him as saying that the idea of helping Muslims in times of tragedy is one of the best ways the United States can improve its image overseas. "It's been an amazing experience to see the extent of the devastation," Mr. Cheney said during a visit to a field hospital being run by the U.S. military near the quake's epicentre.

Impressed

"I'm also obviously tremendously impressed with what we've been able to do with our MASH units," he said in one of the dozen medical tents in the complex.

"U.S. forces were able to move quickly into the area. We were here within 48 hours and we've been here ever since."

Earlier Gen. Musharraf and Mr. Cheney expressed resolve to consolidate multi-faceted ties.

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