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Islamabad: Senior US envoys travelled to Pakistan's northwest frontier on Wednesday to promote lavishly funded plans to secure a wild border region where Osama Bin Laden may be hiding.
Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher arrived in Pakistan on Tuesday to meet leaders of its new government, which plans to review its role in Washington's war against terrorism.
Yesterday, the two diplomats were in North West Frontier Province for talks with officials responsible for the lawless tribal areas where militant groups hold sway.
They visited "security and development sites" including a mountaintop paramilitary base near the Khyber Pass and met government and army officials, the US Embassy said.
While the embassy provided few details, local TV channels said the pair met with commanders of the Frontier Corps, the paramilitary force that Washington plans to train and equip to fight militants linked to the Taliban and Al Qaida, and also with tribal leaders.
Washington is scrambling to build bridges with Pakistani politicians opposed to their longtime ally, President Pervez Musharraf, whose party was routed in parliamentary elections last month.
Western nations are seeking reassurance that the new coalition government will keep the pressure on extremists groups using Pakistan's lawless frontier as a springboard for attacks in Afghanistan and beyond.
But it is clear Pakistan's civilian rulers are rethinking counter-terrorism strategy, amid concern that a reliance on military force has provoked a bloody militant backlash.
Partners in the new coalition government have said they would negotiate with some militant groups - an approach that has drawn criticism from Washington.
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