WASHINGTON, May 2: US President George W. Bush “dropped-in” during a farewell meeting the departing Pakistani envoy had on Thursday with National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley at the White House.

It is very unusual for a US president to “drop-in,” a White House term for unscheduled presidential appearances, during a meeting between an ambassador and one of his aides.

But as Ambassador Mahmud Ali Durrani later told a gathering of Pakistani journalists, his talks with Mr Hadley focused on counter-terrorism efforts in Pakistan’s tribal region and it is a subject close to Mr Bush’s heart.

So the “drop-in” may be unusual but not unexpected.

Ambassador Durrani refused to disclose if President Bush also discussed with him Pakistan’s peace talks with the militants. “I am not at liberty to talk about the details” of this meeting, he said.

But the way US officials – from the Pentagon to the White House – have been talking daily about these negotiations, it will surprise none if President Bush also showed interest in the issue.

Ambassador Durrani, who leaves Washington next week to take up his new assignment as National Security Adviser to Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, will be involved with Pakistan’s efforts to root out insurgency from the tribal zone.

He will be working with the Americans on this issue as well and he said that he had discussed the situation in the tribal areas with senior Pakistani officials before returning to Washington for farewell calls.

So Mr Bush’s unscheduled arrival at his meeting with Mr Hadley indicates that the US president wanted to learn first hand what Pakistan’s new leadership was saying about its talks with the militants.

The United States had endorsed similar talks the Musharraf government initiated in 2006 but withdrew its support when it felt that the militants were using the lull in the fighting to rearm and regroup.

US officials have similar doubts about the current talks but they say they also understand that a political government has to reach out to the militants before taking any decision.

Asked to sum up his two years in Washington, Ambassador Durrani said that defending Gen Musharraf’s emergency was “the most difficult task” he had to undertake as Pakistan’s envoy in the US.

“Kafi danday parray (he had to face a lot of criticism),” said the ambassador when asked to define what he had to go through during the emergency days. “It was a difficult period.”