NEW YORK, Dec 4: George J. Tenet, the director of Central Intelligence Agency, met President Gen Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad on weekend and sought tactical assistance for an assault on a mountain base in eastern Afghanistan where Osama bin Laden is suspected of hiding, said The New York Times on Tuesday.

During meetings with Gen Musharraf and top ISI officials, Mr Tenet outlined aspects of the next phase of the war in Afghanistan.

Pakistan has been quietly expanding the use of three isolated military bases by American Special Operations forces, the paper said.

American Officials told the paper that Mr Tenet also said the US planned to send more intelligence operatives into southern Afghanistan. They urged President Musharraf to go further in cracking down militant religious figures and other extremists.

Other officials told the paper that talks were the “strongest attempt” to-date by the CIA to push Pakistan to rein in religious extremists and monitor activities of pro-Taliban elements inside and outside the government.

The American push comes as Gen Musharraf appears to have gained new confidence in his ability to restrain outspoken religious leaders and religious parties who have failed to ignite widespread outrage over Pakistan’s assistance to the US-led coalition.

CIA officials told their Pakistani counterparts that they would need more help on the ground in coming weeks. One of the most pressing requests was for more information about the base formerly used by the anti-Soviet Mujahideen in the mountainous Tora Bora region where some people think Osama might be hiding, the paper said.

A senior Pakistani official said the Americans wanted help in formulating plans to block exits from the remote region and information about how to reach the maze of elaborate caves and tunnels that may be Osama’s last refuge.

Officials did not say what the Pakistani response was to that particular request, but said the Pakistanis had been generally helpful to the alliance in providing that sort of assistance when requested, the Times said.

Officials said Mr Tenet and members of his team had also described plans to expand the covert war in southern Afghanistan by increasing the number of operatives working there. They are expected to stage a variety of missions aimed at helping track down members of Al Qaeda and providing more money to buy the loyalty of anti-Taliban forces and secure defections from the Taliban commanders, the officials said.

The NYT said that providing assistance to the American intelligence agency underscored Pakistan’s determination to cast its lot with the coalition, but that has not eased all of the suspicions among the Americans about the Pakistani military and intelligence services. Substantial elements of both are known to remain strongly pro-Taliban and to resent Pakistan’s growing alliance with the United States. But Lt-Gen Ehsan ul-Haq, appointed by Gen Musharraf as director of the ISI in October, is regarded as a moderate who is respected by American intelligence officials and appears willing to cooperate with them, officials said.

Mr Tenet left Islamabad on Saturday for Germany where he boarded the plane that carried the body of Johnny Michael Spann, the CIA officer killed last week in a so-called prison revolt in northern Afghanistan. The plane arrived in the United States on Sunday.