Musharraf, Karzai agree to stay in touch

WASHINGTON: The White House on Thursday said the Presidents of Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed to stay in touch in a regular way but has refused to get into the details of what transpired at the meeting between George W Bush, Pervez Musharraf and Hamid Karzai.

The spokesman briefing reporters aboard Air Force One, taking Bush to Alabama, said that he will not 'contradict' a statement of the Pakistani Foreign Minister that the goal of the meeting was to obtain some kind of a 'verbal ceasefire'.

In the last several days both Musharraf and Karzai have minced no words in expressing their displeasure about the actions of the other country especially on the issue of terror across the borders.

White House Spokesman Tony Snow also clarified that contrary to some media reports there were handshakes between Musharraf and Karzai in advance, that the two Presidents were in the Roosevelt Room before proceeding to the Oval office.

"And what you had were both of them (Musharraf and Karzai) having a very candid exchange about their concerns with regard to policies on the two countries, but also the President was happy because there were constructive efforts made, which I'm really not going to go into detail about, but constructive efforts agreed upon to work together to fight the war on terror," Snow said.

On the Pakistani Foreign Minister's remark that the goal of the meeting was to get a verbal ceasefire, Snow replied "The two have agreed to be in regular contact. I'm not going to disclose what they've said, but I will also not contradict the Foreign Minister".