WASHINGTON, Sept 9: The White House indicated on Tuesday that President George W. Bush has asked his Pakistani counterpart to do what is good for his country regardless of public opinion when he telephoned Asif Ali Zardari earlier in the day.

This was stated by White House Press Secretary Dana Perino followed a policy speech by President George W. Bush in which he reminded the new Pakistani government that it’s their responsibility to eradicate terrorism from the tribal areas.

Ms Perino, when asked what the US expected from Mr Zardari and what Mr Bush told the Pakistani president when he telephoned him, said: “I think President Bush would say that President Zardari is going to have to do what he thinks is right for his country, regardless of public opinion.”Ms Perino, however, acknowledged that Mr Zardari confronted a lot of challenges both on the economic front, in dealing with the militants hiding in Fata and in trying to establish a better relationship with Afghanistan.

The White House press secretary said that President Zardari also had discussed the situation with US-installed Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the two leaders were “trying to forge a good relationship so that they can work together, as well”.

Ms Perino said that throughout his two tenures, President Bush had maintained regular contacts with Pakistani leaders. He met Prime Minister Gilani in Egypt soon after the latter was elected. He met him again at the White House in July when Mr Gilani visited Washington.

“He talks to them by phone often, and he spoke to President Zardari, this morning. He used to speak to President Musharraf quite a lot,” said Ms Perino.

“So his contact is frequent and he believes that having established this good relationship with the Pakistani leadership will be something that the next (US) president will be able to pick up on and move forward with, because that’s going to be very important.”

Ms Perino said that whichever candidate won the November election in the US, “will realise how important it is that we keep a strong relationship with Pakistan and other allies to continue to go after extremists”.

Ms Perino said that President Bush also told him that he looked forward to seeing him at the United Nations General Assembly. Mr Zardari is expected to arrive in New York on Sept 22.

The two leaders “pledged to continue to cooperate and coordinate efforts”, Ms Perino said.