Washington: The Bushadministration has said that it considers Pakistan President General PervezMusharraf as an 'absolutely essential ally' in the war on terror and it wouldcontinue to work with him.

The effusive response came from the White House Spokesman Tony Snow when askedif President George W Bush has been frustrated with Gen Musharraf in theongoing war on terror and if he still has faith and trust in the Pakistanileader.

"President Musharraf is an absolutely essential ally in the war on terror.He has, himself, been the object of a number of assassination plots. And he issomebody who is serious about helping, and has been a considerable help, and wecontinue to work with him," Snow remarked at his press briefing"

"As we've said before, also, when it comes to cross-border incursions,people making their way into Afghanistan, it's very important to deal with it.And I believe he's had some public announcements this week about hisdetermination to try to foil that. So I think it would simply be misstating thefacts to say he hasn't been active. He's been very active," he added.

Meanwhile at the State Department the Spokesman there maintained that theadministration is still trying to figure out what Gen Musharraf is trying to doin his recent visits to some Arab and non-Arab countries in the Middle East as it pertains to some 'tough' internationalissues such as the Arab-Israeli question and in addressing the Sunni-Shia divide.