Bratislava  - The heads of state of the four Visegrad Group members began a two-day meeting in the Slovakian spa city of Piestany on Friday.

The meeting was being attended by Czech President Vaclav Klaus, Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom and Polish President Lech Kaczynski as well as host Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic.

Next to a range of ceremonial events, the four heads of state are to discuss European Union enlargement, and external EU relations with particular reference to the current conflict in the Caucasus. The four were also to discuss a possible joint development aid policy.

The presidents of Hungary and Slovakia are also to hold a bilateral meeting Saturday in the south-western Slovak city of Nitra.

Washington, Sep 12: Islamabad is harbouring al Qaeda and placating radical domestic groups and the next attack on the US could originate from Pakistan as its politicians try to “out-demagogue one another in denouncing the Americans for killing terrorists,” the Washington Times has said.

The newspaper noted with regret that Islamabad seems less concerned about its territory being used for an attack on the US than about placating radical domestic groups.

Manila - US soldiers are backing the Philippine military's offensive against Muslim rebels in the south but the Americans are not directly involved in combat operations, the country's armed forces chief said Friday.

General Alexander Yano belied claims by government critics that hundreds of US soldiers stationed in the southern region of Mindanao were engaged in combat operations against Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) guerrillas.

"There is no direct participation," he said. "They [the US troops] may be involved in combat-related activities, but these are not combat in itself."

Kabul, Sep 12 : Afghanistan’s insurgent Taliban movement said that the United States was on the “edge of an historical defeat” in Afghanistan, seven years after invading following the 9/11 attacks.

In a statement released to mark the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US, the Taliban reiterated their rhetoric that the West was leading a “crusade” in Afghanistan.

The US had not realised that there were “so many guardians of Islam who will guard God’s religion and its values”, said the statement e-mailed to the media.

It asked what US President George W Bush and his North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) allies had achieved in the seven years since they had invaded Afghanistan to topple the Taliban government in 2001.

Lahore, Sep 12: United States counterterrorism experts believe that terrorists with an “American face” will conduct any future attack.

Referring to reports of Westerners in terrorism training camps in Pakistan, The Telegraph quoted experts as saying that dozens of Westerners have undergone training, as terrorists try to recruit non-Middle Eastern Asians, particularly Caucasians, because they are less likely to attract the attention of security forces.

Washington, Sep 12 : The United States has assured Pakistani officials that it will not to launch strikes against Taliban militants operating from Pakistan’s tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s Ambassador in Washington Husain Haqqani spent part of his day at the White House meeting National Security and the rest on Capitol Hill trying to assure US lawmakers that his country remained a key partner in this war.

“It is our understanding that the kind of authorisation for US military actions in Pakistan (that The New York Times reported) has not been given,” said Mr Haqqani after his talks with officials at the White House.