ISLAMABAD, Aug 23: US President George W. Bush telephoned President Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday and expressed words of appreciation for Pakistan’s support in the global fight against terrorism.

President Bush also said he was looking forward to his meeting with President Musharraf in Washington next month.

In the context of the London terror plot, President Bush expressed deep appreciation for Pakistan’s role in fighting terrorism and the support Pakistan has been extending internationally in this regard, said a brief one-paragraph statement issued by the Foreign Office later.

President Bush also said that he was looking forward to his meeting with President Musharraf in the US next month and to the opportunity of exchanging views on international developments and on measures to further strengthen the strategic relationship between Pakistan and the United States, the short statement said. It did not indicate the duration of their conversation.

At their last bilateral meeting on March 4 at the Aiwan-i-Sadr here the two presidents agreed to launch an institutional framework for a broad-based and long-term strategic partnership.

Although the Foreign Office statement did not mention it, the two leaders apparently also talked about the crisis brewing in the broader Middle East and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). On Monday President Bush had made a frantic call for the rapid deployment of a beefed up UN force in Lebanon to secure the peace. Notably, Bush’s call came just a day after King Abdullah of Jordan met President Musharraf here and both the leaders made an emphatic call for an immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon and restoration of its sovereignty.

The timing of the US president’s call is seen as particularly significant as it came amid important events. It coincided with the 18th meeting of the Tripartite Commission in Kabul, the tabling of the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in the National Assembly and the government going public with the news that nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan has prostrate cancer.

President Pervez Musharraf is scheduled to meet President Bush at the White House during his stay in Washington on September 21-22. This will be their fifth bilateral meeting since February 2002 when President Bush first hosted Musharraf at the White House. This will be the third Musharraf-Bush meeting at the White House, which was also the venue of their talks in December 2004. In June 2003 they met at Camp David which marked the second summit meeting between the two leaders.

Anwar Iqbal adds from Washington: President Bush telephoned President Musharraf at 7:18am on Wednesday and their 10-minute conversation touched on regional security and cooperation, the White House said.