WASHINGTON, Oct 6 Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi joined the US review process on Tuesday, the day President Barack Obama huddled with senior lawmakers to decide a future strategy for Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The White House and the US Congress are currently involved in an intense debate on whether to escalate or lower America's military presence in Afghanistan.

After a meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Mr Qureshi vowed to continue to work with the United States to defeat the extremists who were “a threat, not just to Pakistan but to the entire world”.

He had a similar meeting with America's special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke earlier in the day and later rushed to Capitol Hill for talks with John Kerry, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and Congressman Howard Berman, who chairs the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Both played a key role in the passage of a bill that proposes to triple US aid to Pakistan. President Obama is expected to sign the bill into a law later this week.

Mr Qureshi thanked the two lawmakers for their efforts to strengthen US-Pakistan relations, a gesture that may raise eyebrows back home where the Kerry-Lugar bill is not extremely popular.

The ISI chief, Lt-Gen Shuja Pasha, and other senior security officials from Pakistan and Afghanistan held similar talks with their American counterparts in Washington last week.

As Mr Qureshi assured American officials and lawmakers of Pakistan's commitment to defeat the extremists, two of Mr Obama's top aides vowed that the outcome of the review process will not affect America's relations with Pakistan or Afghanistan.

“We're not leaving Afghanistan,” declared Secretary of Defence Robert Gates. “There should be no uncertainty in terms of our determination to remain in Afghanistan and to continue to build a relationship of partnership and trust with the Pakistanis. That's long term. That's a strategic objective of the United States.”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that a regional approach supporting both Afghanistan and Pakistan would help achieve the US goals of defeating terrorists and protecting the US and its allies around the world.

“We're going to come up with what we think is the best approach, but the goal remains the same,” she added.

In a joint interview with Secretary Clinton at George Washington University, Mr Gates said he had lunch with the Pakistani ambassador last week and “made absolutely clear to him we are not leaving”.

Meanwhile, the US media reported on Tuesday that cutting a deal with the Taliban was one of the options President Obama was discussing with the US Congress as he began a series of meetings with senior congressional leaders.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tops the list of the legislators President Obama is meeting on Capitol Hill. Others include Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Minority Leader John Boehner, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and the heads of the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees in the House and the Senate.

The fundamental question before them is how long will the American public support a long, bloody and uncertain war halfway around the globe?

The answer will decide whether Washington will send more troops to Afghanistan, increase drone attacks at selected targets in Fata or engage the Taliban in peace talks.

The consultation with the lawmakers followed a public campaign by Gen Stanley McChrystal, the top US and Nato commander in Afghanistan, for 40,000 additional troops. His decision to go public with the demand has annoyed the White House.