WASHINGTON, Nov 16: Pakistan is one of the countries that the outgoing US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, is likely to visit before he steps down, US sources told Dawn.

Senior US officials said Mr Powell, who resigned on Monday, is expected to attend the inaugural ceremony for President Karzai in Kabul on Dec 7.

"And he would like to make a farewell visit to Pakistan as well either on Dec 6 or Dec 8," a senior US official said.

Mr Powell plans to visit many places across the globe before he leaves the State Department by the end of December, the official said.

Besides America's NATO allies, Mr Powell is also expected to visit other key European and Middle Eastern countries, the sources said.

Mr Powell and President Gen Pervez Musharraf became close friends during Mr Powell's four-year term as the US Secretary of State.

They first spoke with each other soon after the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States when Mr Powell telephoned Gen Musharraf to urge him to join the US-led coalition against terror. President Musharraf obliged and the two have stayed in touch with each other since then.

Diplomatic sources say that the two leaders made scores of telephone calls to each other during the last four years.

During the border crisis between India and Pakistan two years ago, they spoke almost daily.