President Musharraf has been loyal to his US ally

Pakistan has asked Washington to forgive the $1.8bn (�1.1bn) it owes the United States, in return for its support for the US-led war on terror.

According to Pakistani state media, Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz made the request to the US ambassador in Islamabad, the day before a visit by US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.

Mr Armitage is on a tour of the region, with the main aim of promoting peace between India and Pakistan, which have long been at loggerheads over Kashmir.

Last month, the US waived $1bn in Pakistani debt, a move seen as a pay-back for the support of President Pervez Musharraf.

Mr Aziz argues that another, bigger slice of debt relief is now necessary to make badly-needed investments in infrastructure, health and education.

Spending up

Washington has already agreed to make the $1.8bn debt less of a burden; Congress is currently discussing a more favourable repayment schedule.

And of Pakistan's $36bn total foreign debt, one-third was recently rescheduled by the Paris Club of creditor nations.

So far, Pakistan has avoided defaulting on its debt repayments, something that looked possible two years ago.

But the government says that its revenues have been dried up by expenditure relating to the war on terror, especially security operations resulting from the conflict in neighbouring Afghanistan.