Islamabad: Amidst reports that they have agreed to continue the hot pursuit of al- Qaida and Taleban elements without making their chase public, American and Pakistani military officials have held a meeting at a village on the Pak-Afghan border to defuse current tensions.

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and US Secretary of State Colin Powell have agreed that troops on the ground would react according to the situation but neither side would issue statements without consulting the other, diplomatic sources in Washington told the daily 'Dawn'.

"This means that if a situation requires hot pursuit, it will be done but there will be no angry remarks from either side, as we saw after the December 29 incident," a Washington-based diplomat said.

In Pakistan, the clash caused angry protests in several cities against US forces while American military officials insisted that they reserved the "right to cross the border".

The assertions by US military officials that they had a right to hot pursuit the fleeing Taleban and al-Qaida forces drew angry reaction from Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Muhammad Kasuri who in a statement rejected the American officials' claims on hot pursuit.

However, according to the newspaper, the US forces could go in hot pursuit without making their chase public.

Meanwhile, military officials of Pakistan, US and the allied forces in Afghanistan met on January 5 at Angoor Adda, a Pakistani border village in Southern Wajiristan to defuse tension on Pak-Afghan border and to boost efforts to counter activities of Taleban and al-Qaida operatives.

The meeting, which lasted throughout the day, was held amid tight security, another daily 'The News' reported from Wajiristan's headquarter town of Wana.

PTI