ISLAMABAD, June 27: The government has decided to deploy 10,000 more troops along the Afghan border which will take the total number of troops there to 90,000. This was announced by Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri at a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who arrived here on Tuesday for consultations on bilateral and security issues.

The press conference was held at the Aiwan-i-Sadr where Ms Rice had 90-minute delegation-level talks with President Gen Pervez Musharraf that focussed on war against terrorism.

In her remarks Ms Rice said the US considered Pakistan a “good friend and a strategic partner”.

She said her discussions with the president revolved around Pakistan-US counter-terrorism cooperation and bilateral relations. She said the objective of her visit was also to review progress, the two countries had made on the bilateral front since the visit of President George W. Bush to Pakistan in March.

She said: “I came here because Pakistan is a good friend and an important strategic partner and this is the message that I bring from President Bush.”

She expressed the US support for the path of ‘enlightened moderation’ that it had adopted and underlined that further democratisation of the country would help in that direction.

Her response to a question if the US supported Pakistan’s new strategy of pursuing a political dialogue to fight terrorism in the tribal areas was: “It is important to trust your partner and support your partner.” She said that Washington was committed to assist Islamabad in its efforts towards the development, not just in the Frontier but in Pakistan as a whole.

She held out assurance that her government was committed to help Pakistan meet its growing energy needs through clean, reliable and safe means of energy.

Mr Kasuri was visibly agitated when a journalist accompanying the US secretary drew his attention to Afghanistan’s claim that Pakistan was not doing enough in the war on terrorism. He said while Pakistan sympathised with Afghanistan it was compelled to respond when allegations were levelled against it.

Reiterating all the steps Pakistan had taken so far, he underlined that it had no motive in destabilising Afghanistan.

On the contrary Pakistan had the greatest stakes in Afghanistan’s peace and stability, he added.

He underscored that Pakistan wanted gas and oil pipelines coming from Central Asia via Afghanistan and also wanted trade with Central Asia.

The foreign minister said it was a difficult situation to tackle and while Pakistan was doing its best, it was also the responsibility of the Afghan government.

He said the Afghan government should share intelligence with Pakistan if it had any specific information about Taliban leaders hiding inside Pakistan or share it with the CIA.

He emphasised that the right forum to address issues was the Tripartite Commission.

The US secretary of state intervened at this point to say that Afghanistan and Pakistan were both ‘friends of the US’ and both were suffering due to terrorism and extremism as the US had.

Acknowledging Pakistan’s commitment, she said the US was supporting all efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan to fight terror.

Responding to a question, she said the US government had the assurance of the president, prime minister and the foreign minister that the next general elections in Pakistan would be free and fair.

In this context she referred to President Musharraf’s commitment to President Bush during his visit here.

She said the US was clear that the process of democratisation was not just having elections but also giving access to media.

Secretary Rice when asked if she would support a woman candidate for the post of UN secretary-general, she said: “I would like to see women in important positions.”

Referring to the UN reforms, she hoped that Pakistan would support US efforts for serious reforms.

In his opening statement, Mr Kasuri said Secretary Rice was a ‘good friend’ of Pakistan and had played a positive role in promoting bilateral relations.

He said Pakistan was satisfied with the progress made in the relations since the visit of President Bush.

He mentioned the initiation of strategic dialogue as well as the energy dialogue.

He said Secretary Rice was also briefed about the Pakistan-India dialogue process, and added that Pakistan was committed to resolving all outstanding issues with India, including the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.

“We believe now is the time to move decisively towards dispute resolution,” Mr Kasuri said.