ISLAMABAD, Feb 28: The global war against terrorism is for an uncertain duration and is not going to end soon, said J. Cofer Black, US ambassador and coordinator for counter-terrorism, here on Saturday.

Talking to reporters at the US Information Centre, Ambassador Black, who is on a visit to Pakistan, acknowledged that innocent people should not suffer during the war on terrorism. "Even in US we get complaints from people because of the increased visa restrictions," he said.

Nevertheless, he said, the US is for human rights, advancement of mankind, freedom of expression and freedom of access to religion. "At no point, US will allow the scourge of terrorism to interfere with the basic human rights," he said.

He was on agreement to strike a balance between the rights of the individual and the efforts for security of the country, and added that even in the US this point was being debated as majority of Americans considered the war against terrorism good for their security. But there are also people who believe that the restrictions impinged on their rights, he said.

He brushed aside the impression that the US was relying heavily on military means to counter terrorism. "We are using all organs of statecraft, like law enforcement, intelligence and financial activities, to identify and cut terrorist links," he said, adding that the most important element of American strategy was diplomacy as "we believe in equitable and productive relationship with all countries."

He said military action had always been the last option. "Look at Afghanistan where we used all diplomatic channels for a number of years with the Taliban though it proved unproductive," he said. But we never gave up and kept on negotiating to find common grounds with the Taliban. Similarly, in Iraq we tried our best to negotiate but got nowhere.

When all the options failed we acted because it was the responsibility of the US government to defend itself as well as innocent women and children.

He said he was impressed with the ability of Pakistan's security forces to engage terrorists. He said the US considered Pakistan as a leader in the war against terrorism as it helped arrest more than 550 Al Qaeda operatives.

He said more than 3,400 (about two thirds) of Al Qaeda leaders had been arrested, detained or killed because of the efforts of world community.

"The future of both the US and Pakistan is very bright together against the scourge of terrorism," he said.

The ambassador said the US government intended to assist Pakistan to the tune of $700 million during the current as well as in the next fiscal year. He said a significant part of the assistance would be for education and social programmes. "We are talking of $3 billion package in the next five years."

He said the US had launched a fund of $25 million for financial support of persons who provided information leading to the arrest of Al Qaeda operatives or Osama bin Laden. Average Americans also contribute to this fund which is supplemented by the US government, he added.