WASHINGTON, 5 December 2004 — President George W. Bush offered no criticism yesterday of Pakistan’s role in the still-unsuccessful hunt for Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, even though Pakistan’s army is pulling out of one area where the terrorist mastermind was believed to be hiding.

After an Oval Office meeting with Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Bush said, “His army has been incredibly active and very brave... flushing out an enemy that had thought it had found safe haven.”

Bush characterized Musharraf as “a determined leader to bring to justice not only people like Osama Bin Laden, but to bring to justice those who would inflict harm and pain on his own people... I am very pleased with his efforts.”

Pakistan’s army said last month it was withdrawing hundreds of troops from South Waziristan, a tense tribal region near Afghanistan. The decision to pull back came after several military operations in recent months.

The United States does not consider the withdrawal a downgrade in the hunt for Bin Laden and other terrorist elements, said a senior administration official. In briefing Bush on Pakistan’s military operations in the border areas, Musharraf said the army’s focus merely has moved to the North Waziristan region, the official said.

Musharraf, who visited Bush to congratulate him for winning a second term, got what he most wanted from the session — a strong public commitment from Bush to take a more active role in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Musharraf has said repeatedly — and did so again by Bush’s side — that resolving that dispute is essential to Muslims and to the global fight against terrorism. Settling the Mideast conflict is “the most important issue... in the interest of peace in the whole world,” Musharraf said. “I told him this would be a priority of my administration,” Bush said. Afterward, Musharraf said Bush had told him that settling the Middle East conflict “is the core issue, the core at fighting terrorism.” But a second senior administration official said Bush did not go that far. Also raised during the 45-minute discussion was Pakistan’s relationship with neighboring India, the world’s largest democracy.

Neither Bush nor Musharraf publicly mentioned Washington’s concerns over Musharraf’s backtracking on a pledge to relinquish his military post. Bush also did not directly raise the matter with Musharraf privately, the second official said. Bush thanked Musharraf for his country’s help in shutting down the nuclear trafficking network led by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the scientist implicated in selling nuclear secrets to Libya, North Korea, Iran and possibly other countries. Qadeer was pardoned by Musharraf but remains under virtual house arrest in Islamabad.

No decision was made on a possible deal for the United States to sell military surveillance airplanes, anti-tank missiles and other weapons worth more than $1 billion to Pakistan, the official said.

But Musharraf said he discussed a potential purchase of American F-16 fighter jets to upgrade the defense capability of his country.