WASHINGTON, Aug 23: President George W. Bush has said that President Pervez Musharraf remains a key ally in the US-led war against terror despite his move to assume sweeping powers through constitutional changes.

“President Musharraf is still tight with us” in the fight against terrorism and “we want to keep it that way,” Bush told a gathering in Oregon Thursday.

He said Musharraf’s support has been effective in defeating the Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan and in catching those who fled to Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban regime in November last year.

“The United States and our coalition and friends have pulled in over a couple of thousand of them. And there’s another couple of thousand who weren’t quite so lucky,” Bush said. “You’ll see some action in Afghanistan because there’s still some spots where they feel like they can bunch up. But we’ve got some brave souls on the ground there chasing them down.”

Bush said US officials would ensure that Musharraf is aware of the importance of restoring civilian rule. The Bush administration appears to have totally ignored an appeal by former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto urging the US to speak out against Musharraf’s actions.

Although the State Department has expressed strong reservations about the constitutional changes, saying that they could make it more difficult to build strong democratic institutions,” it also endorsed Musharraf’s claim that he intended to restore full democracy in Pakistan.