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Condoleezza Rice arrives in Islamabad

     Islamabad: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Pakistan a short while ago to meet President Pervez Musharraf and commiserate with him in the aftermath of Saturday's devastating earthquake, which ravaged the entire region of Kashmir. A US Embassy official confirmed that Rice has landed at a military airbase from Afghanistan where she had gone to meet Afghan leaders earlier on Wednesday. Rice, who is on a tour of Central Asia and Afghanistan, had said before her arrival in the Pakistan capital that, "I do want to affirm with the Pakistani people that the international community and the US are with them in this terrible time." She pledged to mobilise long-term international support to help Pakistan, a crucial military ally in the US' war on terror, recover from the disaster. Besides assessing the total loss of human lives and property, Rice is also likely to discuss the ways and means to mitigate sufferings of the quake victims. Enhancement of the US' assistance for Pakistan will also be discussed during her meetings with top Pakistani leadership. Quoting highly placed sources, a paper said that Rice would also be meeting Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and discuss with him how best to overcome the tragic situation. Jordan King Abdullah II would arrive here for the same purpose on Friday, the sources said adding that the King was expected to bring along relief goods with him in his plane. The US has already released eight of its helicopters deployed in Afghanistan to ferry relief supplies to the quake it areas of Pakistan. It has also joined other countries in providing much needed financial aid to Islamabad.