But both media said Tuesday that they stood by the story, reiterating that President Mosharraf had explained that one has to "take out the centre of gravity", that is the Taleban’s supreme leader and Ben Laden’s protector.

CBS also said it would stay by the story, in which the general president say he believed the US campaign would be short-lived if top Taleban leaders were removed.

"He also doubted whether the Taleban could defeat US troops when a ground assault in Afghanistan is launched", both media reported.

However, a spokesman for Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said after checking with Mosharraf's office that there had been no interview with USA Today or CBS Radio.

Asked if the quotes reflected Mosharraf’s views, spokesman Riaz Mohammad Khan said: "This is all wrong."

"The interview never took place. This is all wrong" Riaz Mohammad Khan Pak spokesman after checking with Mosharraf’s office

USA Today and CBS Radio say they jointly conducted an interview with Mosharraf. The general reportedly told them that the United States should first eliminate Taleban leader Mollah Mohammad Omar before turning its attentions to Osama Ben Laden, the prime suspect in the 11 September suicide attack on the United States.

But after the explosive quotes were printed and broadcast, the Pakistan foreign office says that the interview never took place at all. So whose lie is it anyway?

He said he had also told Powell that the current campaign had to address the root causes of terrorism, which, he said, lay in political oppression, and the denial of justice".

"The two sides had "agreed to work together to develop and strengthen cooperation in all possible areas", Mosharraf said, reiterating Pakistan's "shock" at the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington and underlined that its offer of cooperation to "bring the perpetrators, the organisers and the sponsors of the terrorist attacks to justice".

"There is no doubt that we both have a common goal to see that the Afghan government is one that will represent all the people of Afghanistan and a regime that obviously will be friendly to all its neighbours including Pakistan", Powell said, adding that all elements must be included in the discussion of the future of Afghanistan including the anti-Taleban Northern Alliance and "southern tribal leaders," an apparent reference to the Pashtoon ethnic group represented currently by the Taliban.  

No details were immediately available. The delegation, led by Mr. Hedayat Amin Arsalan, one of Zaher Shah's closest aides, earlier met Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar, discussing the formation of an interim government to replace the Taleban after they fall.

The 87-year-old king, who is of Poshtoon ethnic, the same as the majority of the Taleban, has been suggested by both the US and the EU as a figure who might help end Afghanistan's two decades of war.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said Arsalan met Sattar and senior Pakistani officials to discuss the establishment of a broad-based government in Afghanistan.

The king, whose health is considered frail, has ruled out a restoration of his monarchy but has agreed to join in a meeting of national figures to discuss a future government.

"It's getting very complicated because there are so many competing interests", said one senior Afghan exile in Peshawar, who asked not to be named.

"I don't know if it will be easy to convene a Loya Jirga and have Zaher Shah back in Afghanistan in the near future", he said. Islamabad don't really support the former Monarch, but they accept the concept of a Loya Jirga", the senior exile said.

He made the request on Saturday, the spokesman, Hamid Sidiq, told the French news agency AFP, explaining that a multinational peacekeeping force should enter Kabul to maintain the security of the city and to thus avoid the mistakes committed in the past.