ISLAMABAD, Jan 20: US Central Command chief Gen David Petraeus stressed here on Tuesday it was in the interest of the world that Pakistan succeeded in meeting internal challenges.

“It is clearly in the interest of all countries involved that Pakistan succeeds in dealing with its internal problems,” Gen Petraeus said while talking to reporters after meeting President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani also attended the meetings.

The Centcom chief was on a daylong visit to Islamabad on the fifth leg of a trip to the region that took him to Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Later in the evening, he proceeded to Kabul.

This was General Petraeus’ second visit to Pakistan after assuming the Centcom command in October last year.

While talking to reporters, General Petraeus said his discussions focussed on ways the US and the international community could assist Pakistan in meeting various challenges and in acting against militancy and extremism in Fata, NWFP and other parts of the country and help the “new democracy get itself established as it undertakes the difficult decisions that it has recently reached to be in compliance with the International Monetary Fund agreement”.

Although the US general touched on the strain in Pakistan-India ties in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks and its impact on Pakistan’s cooperation in the war on terror, he mainly focussed on increasing collaboration between the two allies in the war in Afghanistan.

“We discussed further possible activities in the overall effort to counter terrorism and extremism.”

Gen Petraeus said he had conferred with his Pakistani interlocutors about coordination and cooperation between military elements of Pakistan and the US so that actions in eastern Afghanistan and western Pakistan were in harmony to prevent the cross-border movement of militants who moved back and forth the Pakistan-Afghan border to strike targets in both the countries.

He expressed the hope that cooperation in countering extremism would increase between Pakistan and the United States, with the new administration in White House.

New supply route

Alluding to unreliability of Pakistani route for military supplies to Afghanistan where militants over the past couple of months had attacked Nato convoys, Gen Petraeus said the US was seeking additional logistical routes.

During his four-nation visit to the Central Asia, the Centcom chief tried to “solidify understanding and reach agreements on northern lines of communication” because, he said, the US felt it was important that there were multiple routes getting into Afghanistan as it increased its contribution to the war in Afghanistan.

Gen Petraeus said that an agreement had been reached with Kyrgyz leaders for continuing and strengthening the use of the Minas airbase in Kyrgyzstan.

General Petraeus discussed with President Zardari regional security matters.

Prime Minister Gilani discussed with the US general the situation in the region with particular focus on Pakistan-US cooperation in counter-terrorism. The security situation in Afghanistan and escalation of tensions between Pakistan and India were also discussed.

General Petraeus praised the actions taken by Pakistan to uncover full facts relating to the Mumbai attacks and said these were most “heartening”.

He said the US was working to defuse tensions in South Asia and welcomed the restraint and responsibility demonstrated by Pakistan.