WASHINGTON, March 31: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has reiterated her offer to discuss with the new Pakistani rulers their decision to engage the militants in the tribal areas.

As is appropriate, we will now begin working with that government on the whole host of issues that are there in the US-Pakistani relationship, said Ms Rice when asked if she thought it was a good idea to hold talks with the militants. That includes, by the way, both issues concerning terrorism, which threatens Pakistanis, we’ve seen it threaten Pakistanis, we’ve seen it result in the assassination of Ms Bhutto, she told reporters on Sunday.

Ms Rice made a similar offer on Saturday when she told a US newspaper that the United States and Pakistan should hold discussions to decide how to tackle the problem of militancy in the tribal areas.

I think we will be interested in conversations with the new government — as to how to address this part of Pakistan where, clearly, terrorism is a really big problem, she said.

The top US diplomat, however, cautioned that the Musharraf government had also made a pact with the militants and it did not work out.

Secretary Rice is not the only US official to have referred to the Musharraf government’s effort in September 2006 to engage the militants. In a recent interview to NBC television, CIA chief Gen Michael Hayden described the government’s effort as absolutely disastrous.

Ms Rice, however, pointed out that America’s relations with Pakistan were not confined to the fight against terrorism and that Washington has also played an effective role in restoring democracy to Pakistan from the very beginning.

I remember standing with the Pakistani foreign minister almost two years ago, and saying that there needed to be free and fair elections in Pakistan. And so we are very pleased that that has taken place.