Putin Urges International Community To Support Pakistan

Vladimir Putin has urged the international community to support the Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and his government, according to the RIA Novosti correspondent. Putin said during his Saturday night interview with American journalists in the Kremlin that Musharraf was doing his best to consolidate the Pakistani society and support the international anti-terrorist coalition. While speaking on the situation in Afghanistan, Putin said it "was developing in the way we had foreseen." He mentioned that the Northern Alliance was establishing control over the north of the country. Putin said that he had discussed such development of the situation with US President George Bush and Afghani leaders during his short stay in Dushanbe on the way from Shanghai to Moscow." The President also emphasized that Russia's participation in the anti-terrorist coalition consisted in giving air corridors to US aircraft, making available its intelligence, and providing military and technical aid for the Northern Alliance.