BRUSSELS (AFP) — Washington is hoping to keep working with President Pervez Musharraf and whatever government emerges following Pakistan's election, US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher said Thursday.
His comments came as the widower of assassinated former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto prepared for talks with fellow opposition leader Nawaz Sharif on a coalition that could topple the country's US-allied president.
"We look forward to working with whoever emerges as prime minister, we look forward to working with President Musharraf in his new role," said Boucher, who is Condoleezza Rice's deputy for south and Central Asian affairs.
"He's now a civilian president" having giving up his military role, he told reporters during a visit to Brussels.
"With a civilian prime minister emerging in the country they are going to have to settle into what their futures and responsibilities are, what they want to undertake each in their own position."
On Wednesday US President George W. Bush had declined to discuss the political fate of Musharraf, amid stepped up calls following the opposition's sweeping victory for the staunch US ally's resignation.
Musharraf has refused to quit.
Boucher also hailed the Pakistan election as one that the Pakistan people "can be proud of".
One of the noteworthy points that arose from the voting, he said, was that "the Islamic parties, the religious parties didn't do very well."
The good showing of "some of the more moderate and nationalist" parties in the restive North-West frontier region will have to be taken into account as the government is formed, he said.
Boucher stressed the United States' commitment "to help Pakistan with education, with economic growth, with healthcare and with providing security for its people".
And he voiced confidence that Washington would be able "to work with the new government on all these things".
Musharraf has been backed for most of his time in office by the United States as a key ally against Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network.
The embattled leader, who stepped down as army chief late last year, extended an offer of cooperation to his rivals on Wednesday, calling for a "harmonious coalition" after the polls.
But his foes have shown little sign of wanting to work with him so far.
Bhutto's widowed husband Asif Ali Zardari, who leads the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), told reporters he would meet Sharif on Thursday evening, "and we are going to find solutions to the problems of Pakistan."
With other smaller parties on their side, they are close to the two-thirds majority they would need to seek Musharraf's impeachment, leaving him in the most precarious position since he seized power in a 1999 coup.
With votes counted from Monday's election in 258 out of 272 constituencies, the PPP and Sharif's party had a combined total of 153 seats, the election commission said.
The former ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) and its allies together had 58.
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