WASHINGTON - Responding to a direct appeal from President Barack Obama for a rapid expansion of Pakistani military operations in tribal areas, President Asif Ali Zardari has said Pakistan's counterinsurgency efforts will be based on its own timeline and operational needs, according to The Washington Post. At the same time, the newspaper cited Zardari as saying that his government was determined to take action against al-Qaeda, the Taliban and allied insurgent groups attacking U.S. forces in Afghanistan from the border area inside Pakistan. In a written response to a letter from Obama late last month, he also called on the United States to speed up military assistance to Pakistani forces and to intervene more forcefully with India. The message was reinforced Monday by Pakistan's military chief, Gen. Ashfaq Kiyani, who told Gen. David Petraeus, the head of the U.S. Central Command, that the United States should not expect "a major operation in North Waziristan" in the coming months, the Post cited a senior U.S. defence official as saying. North Waziristan, one of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas on the Afghan border, is a sanctuary for the Afghan Taliban. Although the texts were not published, The Post said the letters between the two leaders, while couched in diplomatic niceties and pledging mutual respect and increased cooperation against insurgents, reflect ongoing strains in a relationship that is crucial to both. The United States wants Pakistan to "move on our mutual interests, which includes the Haqqani network and includes the Taliban in Pakistan," Vice President Biden said Tuesday in an interview on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "We're committed to this war, but we'll fight it on our terms. . . . We will prioritize targets based on our interests. We don't want them to be dictated to us," a Pakistani intelligence official was quoted as saying. He added: "The Pakistani Taliban is the clear and present danger. They are what matters most. Once we are done with them, we will go after the Haqqani network." Citing analysts, the newspaper asserted that the ISI and some in the Pakistani military regard the Haqqani group as a valuable asset who could be useful in promoting Pakistani interests in Afghanistan -- including efforts to keep Indian influence there at bay -- after U.S. forces begin to depart. Officials who described Petraeus's meeting with Kiyani in Islamabad said the U.S. general expressed some irritation at Pakistan's complaints against the United States but accepted what one U.S. official called Kiyani's explanation of "the limits of their forces in terms of capacity," according to the Post. Pakistan, another U.S. defence official said, is "already doing an extraordinary amount." They are "a sovereign nation," he said, and "all we can do is keep encouraging them to keep it up." Kiyani, the official said, expressed concern that stepped-up U.S. operations in Afghanistan are pushing insurgents into Pakistan. He said that the military has begun raids into North Waziristan and is working with tribes in the area to expel Uzbeks and Arabs integrated with Haqqani's forces. "Conspiracy theories abound in Pakistan regarding U.S. intentions and actions, and Zardari, with a weakening hold on power and under strong military and political pressure, is anxious not to be seen as kowtowing to U.S. pressure," the newspaper said. U.S. attacks on insurgent targets inside Pakistan are launched from CIA-operated unmanned aircraft from two Pakistani air bases -- Shamsi in Balochistan and Shahbaz in Jacobabad in Sindh province. Zardari did not mention India by name in his three-page letter to Obama, which sources reviewed for The Washington Post on the condition that no direct quotes be used. But he made repeated reference to Pakistan's core interests, unresolved historical conflicts and conventional imbalances. He called on Obama to push Pakistan's neighbours toward diplomatic rapprochement. Pakistan's domestic counterterrorism efforts, Zardari said, were based on the country's own threat assessment and timetable. He noted that military operations in the Swat Valley alone had cost Pakistan $2.5 billion and said that Pakistan expected the United States to provide increased material support. Despite additional U.S. assistance, the Pakistan government has repeatedly complained that the United States has been slow and stingy, and that it attaches far more strings on aid to the civilian government than to its military predecessor. "Virtually every aspect of the U.S.-Pakistan relationship is brittle. Widespread anti-Americanism has focused on the increased presence of U.S. officials administering stepped-up military and economic assistance," The Post said. "In response, the Pakistani government has held up approval of 200 to 300 visas, adding to U.S. irritation".