Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Sunday reiterated that the new coalition government stands by the country's pledge to fight terrorism, "the biggest threat to the world."
"Our government is committed to fight terrorism and extremism; it is against the humanity and it's against the world," said Gilani as he and US President George W Bush jointly addressed reporters at the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
The two leaders held their first meeting Sunday morning on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on the Middle East. Bush and Gilani discussed the security situation on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, which remains a flashpoint between the allies because of the infiltration of Taliban and al Qaeda fighters who have sanctuaries in the rugged tribal region.
Bush said they talked about the "common desire to protect ourselves and others from those who would do harm."
Acknowledging Pakistan's economic, energy and food crises that could hamper its role in the war on terrorism, the US president offered cooperation on economic matters to make the "strong and vibrant" relations between Washington and Islamabad more productive.
"The truth of the matter is a population that has got hope as a result of being able to find work is a population that is going to make it harder for the extremists and terrorists to find safe havens," he said.
Describing terrorism and extremism as "the biggest threat to the world" Gilani recalled that his own party leader, Benazir Bhutto, has been killed in an attack in December. Pakistan, he said, was committed to fight terrorism and extremism but he also reminded the US president that his government had been democratically elected and "there's a change for the system."
"And I've been unanimously elected as the prime minister of Pakistan; that's the first time in the history of Pakistan." Washington has been concerned by the change in policy since the Pakistani coalition government was formed six weeks ago and began talks with the Taliban, whom US and Nato troops are fighting in neighbouring Afghanistan.
The Taliban, driven from power by a US invasion in 2001, is also active on the border tribal zone which also operates as a rear base for the conflict in Afghanistan and where the Pakistani army has fought the hard-line Islamists.
Bush only indirectly raised US unease saying that he and Gilani held a "very candid discussion" and that he had suggested that Washington and Islamabad could productively cooperate on economic matters.
On Wednesday, at least 15 suspected militants were killed when two missiles fired by US drones hit the house of a local Taliban commander in Damadola village in Pakistan's Bajaur tribal district. The US came in for a lot of flak from Pakistan, and the governor of the North-West Frontier Province that adjoins the conflict-hit region described the incident as "an attack on Pakistan's sovereignty."
Some 80,000 Pakistani soldiers have been deployed along the porous frontier to clamp down on militants' movements, but calls have been made in the United States to undertake direct military strikes on Taliban and al Qaeda targets inside Pakistan.
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