ISLAMABAD, July 31: The new American Ambassador to Pakistan Anne W. Patterson presented her credentials to President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday at a formal ceremony held here at the Aiwan-e-Sadr.

The presentation of credentials comes on the heels of hostile statements by key members of the Bush Administration advocating targeted strikes inside Pakistan’s tribal region and a US Congress bill making security assistance to Pakistan conditional.

A fair assumption is that these issues were taken up during the president’s 45-meeting with the US ambassador at which foreign secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan was also present.

Officials, however, referred to the meeting as a ‘courtesy call’ and said that on such occasions there were no substantive talks.

The US ambassador reportedly conveyed to President Musharraf a ‘goodwill message’ from President Bush which in the wake of mounting tensions between the two countries acquires special significance. While there was no word from the Foreign Office, a press release issued by the US embassy quoted the ambassador as saying: “It’s a great honour to serve in Pakistan. I look forward to working with Pakistanis to continue building our strong and important partnership.”

It gave no details about what transpired at the meeting but focused on the ceremony and ambassador’s credentials. “On her arrival at the palace, Aiwan-e-Sadr, the American ambassador was driven in a horse-drawn carriage to a dais where a trumpet sounded the fanfare before the military band played the national anthems of both United States and Pakistan,” it noted, adding: “She then inspected the guard of honour of the Pakistan Army before she was escorted to present her credentials to President Pervez Musharraf.”

Ambassador Anne Patterson was confirmed as the US Ambassador to Pakistan by the US Senate on June 28, 2007 and she took the oath of her office at a ceremony at the US Embassy in Islamabad on July 6.

A career minister in the US Foreign Service, Ms Patterson has also served as ambassador to Colombia and El Salvador. From 2004 to 2005 she was the US Deputy Permanent Representative and Acting Permanent Representative to the UN. Previously she held the posts of Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs and Deputy Inspector General of the Department of State.