Text: Bush, Musharraf News Conference

U.S. President George W. Bush and Pakistan's leader, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, left, answer questions on the war on terrorism, in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Friday, Sept. 22, 2006. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) (J. Scott Applewhite - AP)

Coming on the other side, we had an in-depth discussion on what is happening in Afghanistan in our tribal agency. They are _ I explained to him, whatever we are doing in the form of the peace treaty that we have just signed through a grand jurga, which is an assembly of elders.

This treaty is not to deal with the Taliban. It is actually to fight the Taliban. The misperception in the media, I did clarify to the president, and may I very briefly say, and what I explained to the president, that this is a holistic approach that we are taking to fighting terrorism in Pakistan, in the tribal agencies of Pakistan.

This is a political side of the holistic strategy, the holistic strategy being the military arm being used, a political element, an administrative element and a reconstruction element.

So we want to move, on all these aspects, forward.

Confining myself to this deal, this deal is not at all with the Taliban. As I said, this is against the Taliban, actually. This deal is with the tribal elders of North Waziristan agency.

And the deal has three bottom lines, which we fixed for ourselves. And this is very important, which I explained to the president.

Number one, there will be no al-Qaida activity in our tribal agencies or across the border in Afghanistan. There will be no Taliban activity in our tribal agencies or across in Afghanistan.

There will be no Talibanization, which is obscurantist thoughts or way of life _ no Talibanization.

All these three have been agreed by the tribal areas who signed that deal. And when they sign the deal, they are honor-bound _ and they have a very strict honor code _ to not only abide by it, but also that whoever violates it, they move against them.

So this is, in brief, the deal, which I explained to the president. And I know that he is satisfied with that deal. And maybe this shows the light or the way forward for bringing peace to the region.

So this is what we discussed holistically.

And I would like to conclude by saying we had a total understanding of views between President Bush and myself. And, as I said, we reinforced our trust and confidence in each other.

Thank you very much.

BUSH: Good job.

Two questions apiece.

Q: Mr. President, after 9/11, would the United States have actually attacked Pakistan if President Musharraf had not agreed to cooperate with the war on terrorism? He says that the United States was threatening to bomb his country back into the Stone Age.

And, President Musharraf, would Pakistan have given up its backing of the Taliban if this threat had not come from Armitage?

BUSH: First, let me _ she's asking about the Armitage thing. The first I've heard of this is when I read it in the newspaper today. You know, I was _ I guess I was taken aback by the harshness of the words.

All I can tell you is that shortly after 9/11, Secretary Colin Powell came in and said, President Musharraf understands the stakes and he wants to join and help root out an enemy that has come and killed 3,000 of our citizens.

Matter of fact, my recollection was that one of the first leaders to step up and say that the stakes have changed, that attack on America that killed 3,000 of the citizens needs to be dealt with firmly, was the president.

And if I'm not mistaken, Colin told us that, if not the night of September the 11th, shortly thereafter. And I need to make sure I get my facts straight, but it was soon.

I don't know of any conversation that was reported in the newspaper like that. I just don't know about it.

MUSHARRAF: I would like to _ I am launching my book on the 25th, and I am honor-bound to Simon Schuster not to comment on the book before that day. So ...

BUSH: In other words, Buy the book, is what he's saying.

Q: My question is for the U.S. president.

BUSH: Yes.

Q: Your Excellency, President Musharraf has issued a call for building bridges and promoting interfaith harmony between the West and the Islamic world, which is in the upheaval and in complete turmoil.

Q: So your comments of Islamic fascists and the comments of the pope have inflamed the Islamic world. And my question is would you take the leading role, along with President Musharraf, to build these bridges and promote interfaith harmony to avoid any wrong version of class of civilizations, sir?

BUSH: I appreciate the president's leadership in promoting harmony.

There is unbelievable propaganda in the Middle East these days that try to inflame passion. The propagandists are attempting to create conditions where terror is justified.

And so at my speech at the United Nations, I stood up and said loud and clear, America respects Islam. And we do.

We don't respect people who kill in the name of Islam to achieve political objectives like the terrorists do.

As a matter of fact, these extremists exploit propaganda in order to justify their behavior.

All of us need to step up and talk about a world in which we respect each other's religions. As a matter of fact, it's very important for Muslims around the world to know there's a lot of Muslims living at peace here in the United States. They are proud Americans, and they're equal to me as a citizen, and we respect their religions.

I repeat to you, however, that the free world and the moderate world must stand up to these extremists and not let them spread their hateful propaganda, not let them try to incite people to acts of violence. Because these extremists are not only against Western people, they're also against moderate people.

And the president's reaching out to help understand _ the world to understand that the Muslim religion is a peaceful religion is very important.

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