Condoleezza Rice to visit Pakistan
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-10-12 14:00

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said here she would visit earthquake-hit areas in Pakistan later in the day.

"I do want to affirm with the Pakistani people that the international community and the US are with them in this terrible time," she told reporters after arriving in Kabul during a tour of the region.

Rice left Kyrgyzstan early Wednesday for Afghanistan, her second stop in a three-day tour to bolster US influence in strategic Central Asia, where Russia and China are elbowing for position.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice gestures upon her arrival in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on the first stop of a three-day tour of Central Asia.[AFP]

At talks in Kabul with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Rice was expected to reaffirm Washington's long-term commitment to the country, where it leads a force of 20,000 that has been trying to root out insurgents from the fundamentalist Taliban ousted in late 2001 and their Al-Qaeda allies after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

After leaving Kabul, Rice was due to make the side trip to Pakistan following the devastating earthquake there on Saturday, before resuming her schedule by going on to Kazakhstan and Tajikistan.

During her visit to Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday Rice received assurances that US troops could continue using a base in the ex-Soviet republic until the situation stabilized in Afghanistan, while Kyrgyzs leaders stressed they would not jeopardize old ties with Moscow by favoring new relations with Washington.

Rice's tour is aimed at firming up support for the US war on terror while promoting democratic reform and economic development as the antidote to Islamic extremism.