Islamabad: Senior US envoys travelled to Pakistan's northwest frontier today to promote lavishly funded plans to secure a region where Osama bin Laden may be hiding.

Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher arrived in Pakistan yesterday to meet leaders of its new government, which plans to review its role in Washington's war on terror.

The two diplomats were in North West Frontier Province today for talks with officials responsible for the tribal areas near the Afghan border where militant groups hold sway.

They were visiting "security and development sites" and holding talks with officials including the provincial governor, US Embassy spokeswoman Kay Mayfield said.

While Mayfield provided no details, local TV channels said the pair met with commanders of the Frontier Corps, a 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 counterterrorism strategy, amid concern that a reliance on military force has provoked a bloody militant backlash.

Source : PTI