ISLAMABAD, 18 March 2004 — The US-Pakistani alliance is a long-term partnership, not a marriage of convenience, and is part of a network of protecting the world from “terrorism”, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said yesterday.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell arrived in Islamabad from Afghanistan yesterday for talks on nuclear proliferation, the stepped up Al-Qaeda hunt and peace with rival nuclear neighbor India.

Powell’s fourth visit to Islamabad comes a day after Pakistan’s deadliest encounter to date with Al-Qaeda and Taleban fugitives hiding along its western border with Afghanistan.

Powell will meet today with President Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali and Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri before heading to the Middle East. He flew into the capital Islamabad on board a US military plane at around 6 p.m. (1300 GMT) after a one-day visit to Kabul.

In a piece published in Pakistani newspapers, he sought to reassure Pakistanis about the United States’ past involvement in the region.

“Some view the US-Pakistan relationship as a temporary marriage of convenience. But they underestimate the strength of our mutual commitment and they lack the vision to recognize the promise of our partnership,” Powell wrote in Jang, an Urdu-language daily, and the English-language News newspaper.

“As I arrive in Pakistan, the message I bring on behalf of President (George W.) Bush and the American people is that the US partnership with Pakistan is not just for today and tomorrow. Our partnership is for the long term,” he said.

Many Pakistanis believe the United States abandoned Islamabad after the end of the decade-long Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in 1989.

Powell is also expected to privately seek maximum information on the activities of Abdul Qadeer Khan, the Pakistani scientist who has admitted selling nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea but was pardoned by Musharraf.

President Musharraf has strongly supported Washington’s “war on terrorism”, providing vital assistance for the US-led operation that toppled the Taleban regime in neighboring Afghanistan. The Taleban harbored Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

“The US-Pakistan alliance remains crucial to protecting both our countries, and the world, from terrorism,” Powell wrote. “Our joint efforts have put Al-Qaeda on the defensive, and we will take the fight to them until Bin Laden and his supporters have been brought to justice and their networks destroyed.”

In Kabul, Powell said yesterday Pakistan is stepping up efforts to crush militants in lawless tribal areas near the Afghan border. He said: “The action in tribal areas suggests that Pakistanis have picked up the pace and we hope they continue to do that,” Powell told a news conference, referring to a Pakistani attack on tribal and foreign fighters near the Afghan border on Tuesday.

“It shows the intention on the part of Pakistan not to allow these tribal areas to be used as a haven,” Powell said of Tuesday’s battle in which 15 Pakistani paramilitary troops and 24 tribal and militant fighters, some believed to be Al-Qaeda members, were killed.