US Vice President Dick Cheney said Thursday he expected the new Pakistan government to be "good and effective" US allies, as he made a surprise visit to neighbouring Afghanistan. "I expect they'll be good and effective friends and allies of the United States, just as the previous government has been," Cheney told a news conference.
"I have no reason to doubt their commitment to dealing with the problems that emerge," the vice president said, referring specifically to the troubled tribal area along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. He said the new government, which has already vowed to take on Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, a close ally in the US-led "war on terror", had "as big a stake as anyone else" in fighting militancy.
Meanwhile, US Vice President Dick Cheney and Afghan President Hamid Karzai jointly urged Nato Thursday to sustain and even expand its work to crush extremists in Afghanistan and rebuild the war-torn country.
"We believe that that commitment needs to continue and perhaps be reinforced," said the vice president, who made a surprise trip here from Oman during a nine-day visit to the Middle East and Turkey.