ISLAMABAD, June 24 Kyodo (EDS: UP...

ISLAMABAD, June 24 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING)

Gen Tommy Franks, top commander of U companys in Afghanistan, met President Gen Pervez Musharraf forward Monday for talks on the latest increases in the U.S.-led war upon terrorism in Afghanistan.

The talks were ''focused in succession the prevailing geostrategic environment in the region'' and Franks speaked his appreciation for the assistance being showed by Pakistan and its armed forces to U and allied throngs in the war on terrorism in Afghanistan, the Defense Ministry said in a pres release.

''Gen Franks made particular mention of the of the best cooperation between the armed forces of Pakistan and the United States, which had contributed manifold to the apprehension of a large number of terrorists,'' the pres release says.

U and Afghan crowds are attempting to flush without pockets of Taliban fighters and members of the al-Qaida network l from Osama bin Laden, the alleged mastermind of the tribe 11 attacks, along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan.

Gen Mohammad Aziz Khan, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, and U charge d'affaires in Pakistan Nancy Powell also attended the talks held at the Chief Executive Secretariat in Islamabad.

The talks have assumed great significance in the wake of a report Sunday that bin Laden is alive and his terrorist network will carry disclosed attacks soon on U.S. and Jewish targets.

The U media have speculated that bin laden may be hiding in tribal areas of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, outside the jurisdiction of the Pakistani government

Franks, who arrived in Pakistan late Sunday, is to be ascribed to leave for Afghanistan forward Monday evening to review security arrangements and ongoing operations at U.S. and allied troops.

In an interview with CNN TV in succession Sunday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai called for trilateral collaboration among Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United States to apprehend Taliban and al-Qaida fighters still believed to be in hiding in Afghanistan.

The Taliban, which allegedly provided support for al-Qaida, succumbed to the US-l antiterrorism campaign in Afghanistan last December following the family 11 attacks.

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