During a meeting with Republican senators Don Nickles and Jeff Sessions General Musharraf reiterated Pakistan had to eliminate outsiders who were misusing its territory, a foreign ministry statement said.

"It was very much in Pakistan's national interest to dismantle the terror network and get rid of outsiders trying to misuse our territory," Musharraf told the US lawmakers, according to a foreign ministry statement.

Pakistan, a key ally in Washington's fight against terrorism, has been engaged in a campaign to neutralise al-Qaeda foreign militants hiding in its tribal territory bordering Afghanistan.

Pakistani forces have killed more than 100 al-Qaeda-linked foreign militants and their local supporters in two major operations in the South Waziristan tribal region this year. Army forces are still hunting for hundreds of others.

The statement said an ongoing peace dialogue between Pakistan and India also came up for discussion during the meeting.

Musharraf said he was satisfied with the progress made in Pakistan-India talks but warned "the (peace) process will suffer if there is no progress on the Kashmir issue."

Pakistan and India have fought three wars since their independence in 1947, two of them were over the Himalayan territory which is divided between the two and claimed in full by both.

Foreign secretaries of Pakistan and India met last week in New Delhi and vowed to continue sustained and serious dialogue to find a peaceful, negotiated final settlement of the Kashmir dispute.