CRAWFORD, Jan 2: US President George W. Bush said on Thursday that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal was "secure" following two failed assassination attempts on President Pervez Musharraf in the last three weeks.

Bush also said he emerged from a recent telephone conversation with President Musharraf convinced that the "friend of the United States" and ally in the global war on terrorism had the situation under control.

"Obviously terrorists are after him and he sounded very confident that his security forces would be able to deal with the threat," Bush said. "He sounded confident and therefore I feel confident about his security situation."

In response to a reporter's question, the US leader said that Pakistan's nuclear weapons "are secure and that's important. It's also important that India as well have a secure nuclear weapons programme."

Bush praised the atomic neighbours for working to resolve longstanding disputes peacefully, and said they appeared to be making headway "slowly but surely" on defusing simmering rows like the one over the disputed territory of Kashmir.

"I commend the leaders of both countries for taking steps toward a peaceful reconciliation of major issues that have divided them," he said. "It looks like they're making progress towards reconciling differences, slowly but surely."

"We're hopeful that the Indians and Pakistanis, in upcoming meetings, will be able to begin a dialogue on a variety of issues," Mr Bush said after an afternoon hunting quail with his father, former president George Bush, in Falfurrias, Texas.

He also praised Gen Musharraf for his help in the war on terrorism, launched after members of Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network carried out the Sept 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

"President Musharraf has been a friend of the United States. He's been a stand-up guy when it comes to dealing with the terrorists," he said. "We are making progress against Al Qaeda because of his cooperation. We need to do more, particularly on the Pakistan-Afghan border," said Mr Bush.-AFP