Bush Rebuffs Pakistan's Plea For Nukes

President Bush praised Pakistan's fight against terrorism as unfaltering Saturday but turned down an appeal for the same civilian nuclear help the United States intends to give India, this country's archrival.

"Pakistan and India are different countries with different needs and different histories," Mr. Bush said at a news conference with President Gen. Pervez Musharraf. The White House said that was a diplomatic way of saying no, at least not now.

Mr. Bush and Musharraf renewed their war-on-terror alliance in a news conference at the presidential palace, in front of floating pots of flowers in a reflecting pool and quacking ducks. Fears of terrorism brought a tight security clamp and limited Mr. Bush's movements to the palace and the heavily guarded diplomatic compound that houses the U.S. Embassy.

At the news conference, President Bush called Musharraf "our strong friend and ally" and called the U.S.'s relationship with Pakistan "a strategic partnership," reports CBS News correspondent Mark Knoller.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's army retaliated with helicopter gunships and artillery after pro-Taliban tribesmen clashed with security forces near the Afghan border. At least 46 militants and three soldiers were killed, the army spokesman said.

Intercepts of radio communications between militants involved in the fighting Saturday in the towns of Miran Shah and Mir Ali in North Waziristan tribal region suggested 80 or more fighters had died, security and intelligence officials said on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to comment to media.

Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, the army spokesman, said 25 militants were killed in Miran Shah and 21 in Mir Ali, but added that the toll could be higher than that. Three security forces also died and about 10 were injured.

After visiting three nations in South Asia, Mr. Bush departed the country in much the same way he arrived -- after dark aboard Air Force One, with its lights off and window shades drawn.

Mr. Bush was buoyant about the trip, saying his stops in Afghanistan, India and Pakistan had enhanced U.S. security.

But the journey could cause some headaches for the president. The visits to Afghanistan and Pakistan served as reminders that Osama bin Laden remained at large, years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Also, the nuclear assistance deal with India raised questions about rewarding a country that had defied world pleas not to build nuclear weapons, and must be approved by a skeptical Congress.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the Indian agreement came up in Mr. Bush's talks with Musharraf, but that the time was not right for such a deal with Pakistan. Acknowledging that Pakistan has energy needs, Rice said "we can address energy needs on different terms."

Two years ago Pakistan's leading nuclear scientist, A.Q. Khan, was exposed as the chief of a lucrative black market in weapons technology that supplied Iran, Libya and North Korea. The government denied any knowledge of his proliferation activities.