Bush Thanks Aliyev For Backing

US President George W. Bush has thanked Azeri counterpart Geidar Aliyev by telephone for close cooperation and backing for the ongoing US anti-terror campaign in Afghanistan, Azeri presidential press service announced Tuesday. Bush underscored the war on terror targeted the forces of evil, rather than any particular religion, according to the press service. Responding to the sentiment, Aliyev said that Azerbaijan was allied to the United States in the war on terror and offered all resources available to combat the perpetrators. The sources added the presidents exchanged views "on the issues of development of friendship and strategic partnership" between the two nations and on "acceleration of the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict."