US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte firmly backed Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf Saturday, saying it was up to the embattled military ruler to decide when to quit as army chief.
Negroponte and two other senior US officials held talks with Musharraf, a key ally in Washington's fight against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, amid a political crisis over the suspension of Pakistan's top judge.
With elections just months away, the opposition has seized on the unrest to press Musharraf to give up his dual role as president and head of the military by end 2007, when he is constitutionally obliged to.
"The message I brought was one of a strong friendship and trust for and with the government and people of Pakistan," Negroponte told reporters, adding that there was "no hidden agenda" to the visit.
He said he and Musharraf discussed the strategic partnership sealed when US President George W. Bush visited Pakistan in 2006, including fighting terrorism and extremism, and the regional situation including Afghanistan.
The US official said he also talked about the importance of going ahead with "fair, free and transparent" parliamentary elections that are expected late this year or in early 2008.
Asked if he had talked with Musharraf about the ouster of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Negroponte said he had discussed the "general political situation" in Pakistan.
Critics accuse Musharraf of suspending Chaudhry to remove any obstacles to getting reelected as president-in-uniform by the outgoing parliament, in defiance of the Pakistani constitution.
"I think this is something that President Musharraf himself is going to want to decide and this is a matter that is up to him," Negroponte said when asked about the issue of Musharraf's army role.
General Musharraf seized power in a bloodless military coup in 1999.
Negroponte said he met other officials including Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and the head of Pakistan's feared ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) spy agency.
He said he would meet opposition leaders on Saturday evening.
Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher and the chief of the US Central Command covering Iraq and Afghanistan, Admiral William Fallon, also met Musharraf in an unprecedented trio of US official visits.
Musharraf "expressed satisfaction" over US-Pakistani cooperation and reiterated the country's commitment to fighting "terrorism", a Pakistani government statement said.
The "cordial" talks lasted for an hour, officials said.
The talks come against a backdrop of domestic political strife caused by Musharraf's suspension of Chaudhry on March 9, which has led to widespread protests and violence.
The visits also follow intense pressure on Musharraf from Western allies with troops in Afghanistan to crack down on Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants allegedly holed up in Pakistan's troubled northwestern tribal belt.
Negroponte told Congress in January, when he was US director of national intelligence, that Al-Qaeda's core elements continue to plot attacks against the West "from their leaders' secure hideout in Pakistan."
But he softened his tone on Saturday, saying that while he had said that Pakistan could do more to combat Islamist militants in its frontier regions, "it is also fair to say that we can all do more."
