Thursday, April 14 2005 09:58 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Islamabad: United States Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld last night (Apr 13, 2005) held talks with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on regional, bilateral and Defence-related issues between the two countries.

Rumsfeld, who arrived at Islamabad yesterday evening, met Musharraf along with top US Defence officials and reviewed the ongoing war against terrorism, especially the operations against al-Qaeda and remnants of the taliban, officials said.

Key regional and bilateral issues figured in the talks. The meeting came as the US began taking steps to supply F-16 aircraft to Pakistan.

The US has recently announced that Pakistan could buy the F-16 aircraft and the officials would work out the modalities.

While the US proposed to sell 24 F-16s, Pakistan hinted that it preferred around 70.