WASHINGTON, March 2: US President George W. Bush’s pledge to visit Pakistan despite Thursday’s terrorist attack was no surprise for diplomatic and official circles in Washington already aware of his determination to visit Islamabad at all costs.

Talking to reporters at a briefing in New Delhi after the terrorist attack in Karachi that killed one US diplomat and three Pakistanis, Mr Bush declared: “Terrorists and killers are not going to prevent me from going to Pakistan. My trip to Pakistan is an important trip.”

Last week, when asked by this correspondent at an interview at the White House if he ever thought of cancelling his trip to Pakistan because of the ongoing violence, Mr Bush said: “No, I’m not going to … never thought about cancelling it.”

When asked again if he could change his mind at some stage, he said: “No, zero, zero chance.”

President Bush wants to go ahead with the visit because, as he said in New Delhi and earlier in Washington, he believes “it’s important to talk with President Musharraf about continuing our fight against terrorists.”

President Bush recalled that “four times the terrorists have tried to kill President Musharraf.” And that’s why he said he believes that President Musharraf “has … a direct stake in this fight.”

In Kabul, Mr Bush also defended Gen Musharraf before an unfriendly audience, saying that the Pakistani president “understands” it was important to bring the terrorists to justice.

The statements make it clear that President Bush still retains his unwavering conviction in the fight against terrorism and that he also trusts President Musharraf’s commitment to this fight.

But it is also obvious that recent events, particularly the suicide bomb attack in Karachi, must have had their impact on the US president. US official sources in Washington say that the Karachi bombing must have convinced President Bush to have a closer look at the complaints he heard in Kabul and New Delhi.

In Kabul, the Afghans are believed to have complained that Pakistan was not doing enough to stop infiltration of Taliban and Al Qaeda sympathizers from Pakistan’s tribal areas into Afghanistan.

In New Delhi, the Indians asked him to urge Pakistan to share information on militant activities, particularly in Kashmir. Later at a news briefing, Mr Bush promised to ask President Musharraf to “continue to share information to bring terrorists to justice.”

Similarly, in Kabul he said he was going to discuss the issue of cross-border infiltration with Gen Musharraf.

US officials say that when President Bush arrives in Islamabad on Friday for talks with President Musharraf, high on his list of talking points will be the need for greater Pakistani cooperation with both Afghanistan and India which, he has been told in Kabul and New Delhi, is necessary for eradicating terrorism from South Asia.

In his interviews to Pakistani and Indian journalists in Washington, and later at his briefing in New Delhi, Mr Bush also underscored the need to seek a peaceful resolution to the 59-year old Kashmir dispute.

While sticking to the traditional US stand that this issue should be resolved through bilateral talks between India and Pakistan, Mr Bush appeared willing to more actively use US influence for resolving this dispute. But the Karachi bombing has obviously pushed this item down on his agenda.

Another item that suffered a severe blow because of the bombing is the Pakistani opposition’s desire that America uses its influence to push for the restoration of full democracy in Pakistan. The attack, as diplomatic observers in Washington say, has increased the feeling in Washington that the US is better off with a military ruler in Islamabad rather than going through the delicate process of bringing a democratically elected government.

On Thursday in Islamabad, the Foreign Office indicated that Pakistan would also seek a similar deal with the US that President Bush finalized in New Delhi, promising to extend full civilian nuclear cooperation to India.

But both government officials and think-tank experts in Washington believe that Mr Bush cannot offer a similar deal to Pakistan, particularly because of the alleged involvement of the A.Q. Khan network in nuclear proliferation.

But in his interview to Pakistani journalists, President Bush did not completely rule out the possibility of offering such a deal to Islamabad.

“Well, as I said, this is just the beginning of a very long process,” said the US president when asked if Pakistan can also be included in the arrangement he is offering to India.

“Some say, well, this is a zero-sum attitude by the United States; quite the contrary. It’s the beginning of a policy that says there will be a suppliers group of people who are capable of providing fuel stocks for a civilian nuclear power industry, countries that will then collect the spent fuel, reprocess it to be able to burn it in new types of reactors,” he said.