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Al-Qaeda: U.S. warns Pakistan on aid cut?

Nirupama Subramanian

Cheney meets Musharraf in surprise visit

ISLAMABAD: United States Vice-President Dick Cheney made an unannounced visit here for a few hours for talks with President Pervez Musharraf on Monday.

The Pakistani Foreign Ministry said the talks covered "our bilateral relations, Afghanistan, and counter-terrorism co-operation".

The spokesperson said she had no other details about the talks.

The New York Times reported from Washington hours after the visit that Mr. Cheney delivered an "unusually tough message" to Gen. Musharraf, with the warning that the new Democratic Congress would cut aid to Pakistan unless he showed results in hunting down the Al-Qaeda from suspected safe havens on the border with Afghanistan.

A day earlier, the same newspaper reported that the White House had concluded that Gen. Musharraf was not living up to earlier commitments that Pakistan's peace agreements with tribal militants in North and South Waziristan were not at the cost of the military efforts against Al-Qaeda.

U.S intelligence officials now assess that terrorist infrastructure in these tribal areas on Pakistan's north-west is being rebuilt, the newspaper reported.

"Holistic approach"

A few hours after Mr. Cheney left here for Kabul, the Foreign Ministry said Pakistan had adopted a "comprehensive" approach to the problems in the tribal areas that covered "military action where necessary" and political and economic action, including development activities.

Spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam denied Pakistan would take military action in those areas at the behest of Washington to pre-empt a Taliban spring offensive in southern Afghanistan, saying "Pakistan does not take dictation from anybody, any force".

Mr. Cheney's visit coincided with that of British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, who praised Pakistan's contributions in the "war on terror", and said she had discussed ways of strengthening this co-operation in her talks with Gen. Musharraf and Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri.

All countries involved in the war in Afghanistan needed to more to fight Talibanisation, Ms. Beckett said at a joint press conference with Mr. Kasuri.

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