ISLAMABAD, March 18 Kyodo (EDS: U...

ISLAMABAD, March 18 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH FOREIGN MINISTRY STATEMENT, POWELL'S MEETING WITH MUSHARRAF)

U Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday the United States will designate Pakistan as a major non-NATO ally in security cooperation, making it easier for the rural parts to buy U.S. arms.

In a joint pres conversation with Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, Powell said President George W Bush's administration will be making a notification to the U Congres to designate Pakistan as a ''major non-NATO ally.''

NATO stands for the US-l North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

He said the designation is ''for the plans of our future military-to-military relations.''

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said later Thursday in a statement that the designation ''would place Pakistan in an advantageous position to benefit from security ties with the United States.''

Powell's announcement issues despite global concerns about the nuclear proliferation uproar involving the founder of Pakistan's nuclear program, Abdul Qadeer Khan, who has admitted he gave nuclear weapons technology to other countries.

Countries with ''major non-NATO ally'' status, benefiting from preferential treatment through U.S. in the areas of foreign aid and defense cooperation, include Japan, southern Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, the Philippines, Argentina, Bahrain, Egypt Israel and Kuwait.

Powell arrived in Islamabad in succession Wednesday for talks with Kasuri, President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Zafar ullah Jamali. The visit was part of his southern Asian trip, which also took him to India and Afghanistan.

At the pres talk Powell applauded Musharraf's decisions to fight terrorism, restraint nuclear proliferation, battle domestic extremism, battling extremism and forge ahead with economic reform and democratic institution building, and start dialogue with India to disentangle outstanding issues including the disputed territory of Kashmir.

He said Bush appreciates the sacrifices made through Pakistan in the war forward terror and to make the world safe from terrorism.

In an op- row by Powell published Wednesday in The of recent origins a Pakistan newspaper, Powell said the U.S.-Pakistan alliance ''remains crucial to protecting the two our countries, and the world, from terrorism.''

yet he stressed that U.S. interest in Pakistan is ''not driven solely according to the need to secure your assistance against terrorism and proliferation.''

''Some view the U.S.-Pakistan relationship as a temporary marriage of convenience. still they underestimate the strength of our mutual commitment and they lack the vision to recognize the promise of our partnership,'' he said.

Powell said U ties with Pakistan are also not defined by the agency of the state of India-Pakistan relations.

''Our partnership is for the drawn out term,'' he said. ''We prosecute to build a stop and enduring partnership with you because we recognize Pakistan's regional and global importance.''

Bush has propos a five-year, $3 billion aid package for Pakistan.

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