Director of National Intelligence (DNI) of USA Ambassador John Negroponte said this during a meeting with the visiting State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfozzaman Babar at his office in Washington on Monday.

During the hour-long meeting with the minister, Negroponte commended Bangladesh as one of the few countries in the Muslim world committed to democracy and fighting against terrorism, said a press release of the home ministry yesterday.

Babar informed Negroponte about the current modernisation of Bangladesh's law enforcement agencies and the spectacular successes achieved in combating militancy and bringing the masterminds to justice within a short time.

The minister informed the US top official how the whole country under the leadership of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia spearheaded motivational campaign against the militant perpetrators and earned all-out support of the people, including religious personalities, imams of mosques, teachers of madrasas and intellectuals.

Negroponte gave assurance his country's continued support to Bangladesh in fighting terrorism through capacity building. He urged the Bangladesh government to continue to play its rightful role as a leader in the Muslim world and help create better understanding of terrorism in the Muslim world.

Meanwhile, the state minister for home also had separate meeting with top officials of the World Bank (WB) in Washington DC. He met WB Vice-president for South Asia Region Proful C Patel and Alternate Executive Director for the USA in WB Jennifer L Dorn.

Babar said that Bangladesh has successfully dealt with the problem of militancy with the active support from the people. Explaining background information on the arrested militants in Bangladesh, Babar highlighted the problem of poverty that has contributed to the rise of extremism in Bangladesh as in the rest of the world.

Alternate Executive Director for Bangladesh in WB Zakir Hossain Khan was present during the meeting with the WB officials. Bangladesh Ambassador to USA Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury, Joint Secretary of the Home Ministry Akhtar Ahmed and other officials of the embassy were present in the meetings.