President George W. Bush met here yesterday with the visiting Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf. After an Oval Office meeting with Pakistan's president, Bush characterized Musharraf as "a determined leader to bring to justice not only people like Osama bin Laden but to bring to justice those would inflict harm and pain on his own people. ... I am very pleased with his efforts." Musharraf, who visited Bush to congratulate him for winning a second term, got what he most wanted - a strong public commitment from Bush to take a more active role in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Musharraf has said repeatedly - and did so again by Bush's side - that resolving that dispute is essential to Muslims and to the global fight against terrorism. Settling the Mideast conflict is "the most important issue ... in the interest of peace in the world," Musharraf said. Bush said he assured the Pakistani leader "there is an opportunity at hand to work toward development of a Palestinian state and peace in the Middle East." Bush added, "I told him this would be a priority of my administration." Among the U.S. officials who participated in the meeting were Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Powell's replacement at the State Department, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice. Also raised during the 45-minute discussion was Pakistan's relationship with neighboring India, the world's largest democracy. The two countries are declared nuclear powers.
