NEW YORK, Nov 12: President Asif Ali Zardari told US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday that only a stable Pakistan could ensure stability in the South and Central Asian regions.

“Pakistan is seeking cooperation of the international community to help stabilise the region,” he said. “We hope that the US will offer full cooperation in achieving this target.”

According to a Pakistan Embassy spokesman, the president told Ms Rice that his government was working for stabilising democracy in Pakistan and for the welfare of the people and was seeking US assistance for this purpose.

Although Mr Zardari did not specifically ask for bilateral financial aid or for US support for his efforts to seek financial assistance from other friendly nations, his statement made it obvious that Pakistan wanted the international community to appreciate the seriousness of the financial crisis confronting the country. He also wants the US and other world leaders to help rescue Pakistan from this crisis.

Earlier this week, Pakistan’s ambassador Husain Haqqani told a US think-tank that the international community should help Islamabad raise $10 billion.

Such assistance, he said, was particularly important if the US and other allies wanted Pakistan to continue to fight Al Qaeda and Taliban terrorists hiding along the Pakistan-Afghan border.

Pakistan is also negotiating a rescue package with the International Monetary Fund and the US can play a key role in enabling Islamabad to get IMF’s assistance on easy terms.

In her 30-minute meeting with Mr Zardari, Secretary Rice assured the Pakistani leader that a change of government in Washington would not affect US-Pakistan ties. She hoped that the ties between the two countries would grow stronger in the future.

Ms Rice praised the Pakistani government’s efforts for bringing financial and political stability to the country and said that Washington fully backed the new democratic government in Islamabad.

The meeting between the two leaders was split into two sessions. They first met with their aides, including Foreign Minister Shah Mahmud Qureshi, and then they also had a one-to-one meeting for 15 minutes.