ISLAMABAD, Nov 7: US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage is arriving here on Monday for talks with top leadership and senior officials on important bilateral, regional and global issues, including counter-terrorism and the Indo-Pakistan peace process.

Although his visit was planned before the US presidential election, Mr Armitage will be the first highest-ranking American official to visit Pakistan after the re-election of President George Bush. His visit coincides with the arrival of the new US ambassador-designate to Pakistan, Mr Ryan Crocks, and comes on the heels of Osama bin Laden's reappearance in a video delivered at the Al Jazeera television network office in Islamabad.

Mr Armitage, who will be accompanied by three assistant secretaries of state, including Christina Rocca, will begin his official engagements on Tuesday, it is learnt.

His programme includes meetings with President Gen Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri. He will also hold delegation-level talks at the Foreign Office which will be led by Foreign Secretary Riaz Khokhar from the Pakistani side.

Significantly, his visit takes place ahead of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz's planned trip to India on Nov 23 and before the start of the second round of talks between India and Pakistan later this month.

The US State Department's spokesman said the other day that during his visit to the region Mr Armitage would also discuss the progress made so far in the dialogue process with specific focus on Kashmir.

According to diplomatic sources, apart from different aspects of bilateral relations, talks would cover the recent elections in Afghanistan, the worsening situation in Iraq, the Palestine issue, the UNSC reforms and nuclear non-proliferation. The Iran-IAEA standoff on uranium enrichment is also likely to figure in the discussions.