Gates, speaking at a Pentagon press conference with Admiral Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he was unaware of any Pakistani request for additional US military assistance but said it was part of an ongoing dialogue.

"First of all, we remain ready, willing and able to assist the Pakistanis and to partner with them to provide additional training, to conduct joint operations, should they desire to do so," he said.

Asked whether joint operations meant US combat troops fighting with Pakistani troops against Al-Qaeda in the tribal areas near the border with Afghanistan, Gates said, "If the Pakistanis wanted to do that, I think we would."

Gates' comments were the most direct yet by Washington about US willingness to send US combat troops to Pakistan as part of an intensified counter-insurgency effort in the tribal areas, which Al-Qaeda and the Taliban have turned into safe havens for attacks in Afghanistan and more recently inside Pakistan.

Use of US troops in Pakistan is a highly sensitive issue with the Pakistani military, however. President Pervez Musharraf warned earlier this month that unilateral US action in its territory would be treated as an invasion.

"They clearly have the right to decide whether or not forces from another country are going to operate on their soil," Gates said. "We will continue the dialogue. But we would not do anything without their approval."

Gates said most of the discussion with the Pakistanis so far has involved increased counter-insurgency training rather than joint combat operations.

"I mean, you're not talking about significant numbers of US troops for the kinds of things, if you're talking about going after Al-Qaeda in the border area or something like that," he said.

"So, in my way of thinking, we're talking about a very small number of troops, should that happen. And it's clearly a pretty remote area. But, again, the Pakistani government has to be the judge of this," he said.

Gates said the threat that Al-Qaeda poses to the Pakistani state was brought home to the Pakistani military relatively recently, in particular by the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

"So I think it's not particularly surprising that they have not fully thought through exactly how they intend to proceed and their strategy going forward," he said. "I expect that that will happen."

Admiral William Fallon, the head of the US Central Command, met on Tuesday in Islamabad with General Ashfaq Kiyani, who succeeded Musharraf as head of the armed forces.

Before leaving for Islamabad, Fallon said the Pakistani military appeared willing to work more closely with the US military on improving its counter-insurgency capabilities.

He said Kiyani understood the threat emanating from the Taliban and Al-Qaeda safe havens in the tribal areas.

"I was very heartened by his understanding of what those problems are and what he needs to do to meet them. So we're going to try to help that," he said in an interview last week with wire service reporters.

Fallon provided few details, but said part of the effort involves US training and equipping of Pakistan's Frontier Corps, a tribally based force formed during British colonial rule to pacify the region.

Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, cited night operations as an area where the US military could help train Pakistanis.

"The Pakistani army is a very proud army and they've had successes in the past," he said. "And the security threat certainly is changing, and how their government is going to address this, I think, is a really important question for all of us."

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