Islamabad - US special envoy to Pakistan Richard Holbrooke said Tuesday the two countries had parallel interests in fighting the war against al-Qaeda and Taliban militants concentrated along the Afghan border.

"The United States and Pakistan face a common strategic threat, a common enemy and a common challenge and, therefore, a common task," Holbrooke told reporters in a joint press conference with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

Qureshi said the interests of the two countries converged, but there existed a gap of trust in fighting the war against terrorism.

He was referring to US drone attacks on suspected militant hideouts inside Pakistani territory, which were earning Islamabad and Washington hostility from the Pakistani people.

"We can only work together if we respect each other and we trust each other," Qureshi said. "There is no other way, nothing else will work."

However, the top Pakistani diplomat said both sides had "frank and candid" discussions earlier in the day.

Holbrooke arrived in Islamabad late Monday with Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, after two-day talks in Afghan capital Kabul focusing on surge in fighting the militant insurgency by US and NATO troops. (dpa)