18 October 2004	Monday	03 Ramazan 1425

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WASHINGTON, Oct 17: The United States has forged a partnership with Pakistan and the waging of the war on terrorism would not have been possible without Islamabad's cooperation, Secretary of State Colin Powell has said.

In his remarks to the US Global Leadership Campaign, Mr Powell said: "I called President Pervez Musharraf two days after 9/11 and he agreed that it was time for him to make a strategic choice and he made that choice. Three years later now we are working in close partnership with President Musharraf, as we help him to move his country forward at a pace that the Pakistani people can absorb."

"We have transformed our relationship with India and we have forged a new partnership with Pakistan," he said.

About Middle East, he said: "A Palestinian state that is free and at peace with the state of Israel remains our goal and we will do everything we can to achieve that goal."

"We work with our Quartet partners, the Russian Federation, the United Nations and the European Union to be ready to do what we can to move the Middle East peace process along so we can achieve the goals of the roadmap which were laid out by the president in June 2002," he said.

He said the US no longer viewed India and China in the way they had been viewed for many years. "Each of them is now important friend and partner with us, and because of that relationship, we can help them as they deal with the outstanding difficulties that they have had for so many years," he said.

The secretary said the US had worked hard with its friends in Asia to put together a six-party arrangement to deal with the challenge of nuclear weapons in North Korea.

"We think they have, perhaps, one or two. We're not sure if they have developed or built any more. Why should it be solely a US problem? Why isn't it a problem for Japan and for Russia, and for China and South Korea? They're North Korea's neighbours," he said.

Referring to the Afghan election, he said: "Was it perfect? No. Show me any county in the US that has had a completely perfect election and then you can make a judgment about how free and fair and open the Afghan election was. There were little irregularities and they'll be worked out between the UN, the US and the Afghan government," he said.

He described as "a tremendous tribute to the human spirit," the voting by tens of thousands in refugee camps in Pakistan.-APP