Islamabad: US Ambassador Cameron Munter met Interior Minister Rehman Malik and discussed matters of mutual interest in Islamabad on Wednesday, a day when Pakistan was gripped by intense speculation over the abrupt departure of President Asif Ali Zardari to Dubai.
According to Associated Press of Pakistan, Munter and Malik discussed matters of mutual interest during the meeting.
Zardari flew out of Pakistan on Tuesday. The official line was that he had gone to Dubai for medical tests and also to meet his children, though Pakistan Army doctors who carried out a medical check declared him fit. A US magazine quoted a former American official as saying that Zardari had a minor heart attack and might resign as president.
The US on Thursday discounted rumours of a "silent coup" against Zardari, who has been under considerable pressure ever since a secret memo to Washington came to light. The memo claimed that Zardari feared a military coup following a US commando raid that killed Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
This year has witnessed deterioration in the US-Pakistan ties.
In February, Raymond Davis, an undercover CIA agent, was arrested in Lahore for shooting two Pakistani nationals. Then Osama was killed on May 2.
The November 26 NATO airstrikes on two Pakistan Army checkposts left two dozen soldiers dead and triggered outrage in the country. Islamabad cut off its NATO supply through the country and boycotted the December 5 international conference that discussed the future of Afghanistan.
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