Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s president, on Tuesday swore in the country’s new prime minister – as two senior US officials arrived for discussions on Islamabad’s role in the Washington-led “war on terror”.

John Negroponte, the US deputy secretary of state, and Richard Boucher, the assistant secretary of state for south Asia, met Mr Musharraf and General Ashfaq Kiyani, the recently appointed army chief.