UNITED NATIONS, Sept 3: US Ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad on Wednesday denied press reports that he had been providing political advice to Asif Ali Zardari, the PPP co-chairman, saying his contacts with him were of ‘social’ nature.

However, he maintained that the contacts he had thus far made were useful for the United States.

Talking to reporters following his return from vacation, Mr Khalilzad said he wanted to set the record straight about the controversy that raged during his absence over what was described as his “unauthorised contacts” with Mr Zardari, and said he had known the Bhutto family for a long time.

“Look I have been ambassador to two very sensitive countries in the region, Afghanistan and Iraq, and I know the intricacies of relations with sensitive countries and I know phone is an unreliable instrument for communicating in terms of security,” he added.

He said his friendship with that family preceded his role in the US government. He was friends with the late Benazir Bhutto and through her he had come to know her husband. After Ms Bhutto’s assassination, he said he had remained in touch with Mr Zardari but those contacts were not so frequent as depicted in newspaper reports.

Mr Khalizad said he had relations with many leaders in broader Middle East and Pakistan and Afghanistan and these contacts had been very useful for the United States, and that he kept Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice informed.

As regards his phone contacts with Mr Zardari, he said he was experienced enough not to convey any advice on an open line on behalf of the United States.

Responding to another question, he said he was not a candidate for the upcoming presidential elections in Afghanistan and that at the end of his current assignment he would work in the private sector. “I am a permanent representative of the United States to the UN. I’m proud of my job. I’m an American. And I am not a candidate for the post of Afghan president.”