Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani reiterated his commitment to the war against “extremists and terrorists” after meeting US President George W. Bush on Monday, but warned against "unilateral" US military action against Islamist militants in his country.

He is in Washington, DC on his first visit to the country since taking over from President Musharraf in Pakistan’s February elections.

Gilani said that his country was “committed to fight against those extremists and terrorists who are destroying and making the world not safe. This is a war which is against Pakistan, and we'll fight for our own cause.”

“The Americans are very worried about Pakistan. It was great for them to hear [Gilani's] assurances,” said Philippe Gassot, France 24’s correspondent in Washington, DC.

Gilani is also expected to meet with presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain. Obama was recently in Afghanistan, where he said that the situation was “precarious”.

The Pakistan-Afghanistan border is the focus of an intensifying battle between Al-Qaeda and Taliban-supported militants, and US-supported forces.

Increasing efforts to take control of the ungoverned, lawless border areas is one of the biggest issues in the coalition’s war in Afghanistan. “We talked about the common threat we face, extremists who are very dangerous people,” said Bush.

“It’s important for the USA to maintain relationships with Pakistan’s government, which is fragile. Without their help, it will be chaos there,” continued Gassot.

Crackdown on militant enclaves

Barely hours before the Gilani-Bush meeting, an air strike in the tribal areas killed Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar, an Egyptian al Qaeda bio-chemical weapons expert with a 5 million dollar bounty on his head. He allegedly trained Richard Reid, the “shoe bomber”.

Asked by CNN about the suspected US missile strike, Gilani said he had told Bush that "unilaterally it should not be done".

"We must have more cooperation with each other, and it's our job because we are fighting the war for ourselves," he said.

Gilani declined to directly accuse the United States of being behind the missile attack. But he said if it was proven to have been a US operation, it would be a violation of Pakistani sovereignty.

"Basically Americans are a little impatient. Therefore in the future I think we'll have more cooperation on the intelligence side, and we'll do the job ourselves," he said.

There had been speculation that US-backed coalition forces were preparing to strike the tribal areas in Pakistan. They have been unhappy with the government’s apparent inability to control the areas, which has been signing peace deals with militant groups.

On the other side of the fluid frontier, Afghanistan’s government insists that Pakistan’s agencies play a role in supporting extremist elements in the tribal areas.

Pakistan’s main intelligence agency, the ISI, “have some 3,000 terrorists, most of them foreigners, under sabotage training”, said Afghanistan’s intelligence service, the NDS, on Monday.

It went on to accuse the service of trying to hamper the activities of Indian companies involved in reconstruction efforts in the country.

When Gilani declared that the service would be placed under civilian control on Saturday, a day before leaving Islamabad, it created a stir.

“Nobody will say that this agency is not under the control of an elected government,” said Asif Ali Zardari, the Pakistan People’s Party leader, in a telephone interview with a Pakistani newspaper.

But on Sunday the government was forced to retreat, stating the notification was “misinterpreted”. According to Pakistani journalist and author Zahid Hussain, things remain as they are, at “status quo”.

Guns or butter?

Pakistan is the largest recipient of the US-sponsored Coalition Support Funds, meant to aid the country’s collaboration in counter-terrorism efforts. The week before Gilani’s arrival in Washington, Bush agreed to allow Pakistan to use about 230 million dollars to upgrade its F-16 fighter jets.

That ran into controversy with the Congress, who felt fighter planes had more to do with battling India than Taliban-supported militants.

On Monday, Bush changed his strategy, offering 115 million dollars over two years in food aid to Pakistan, said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.