NEW YORK - In an effort to dispel growing American concerns over the deal Pakistan is negotiating with tribal leaders, Pakistan's Ambassador-designate to the United States says his government has no plans to diminish its military presence in the region bordering Afghanistan. "The security requirements will not be abandoned or ignored," Ambassador Husain Haqqani said as he laid down in clear terms the new government's policy on the issue. Ambassador Haqqi was quoted in the course of a New York Times dispatch, which said in its Tuesday edition that the deal could lead to the withdrawal of 120,000 Pakistani troops, thus unraveling security in the border region. In this context, The Times cited unnamed Bush administration officials as expressing "increasing alarm". "Negotiations with tribesmen are aimed at supplementing military efforts with political ones," Haqqani explained. The Times said Pakistani counterinsurgency operations in the tribal areas had dropped sharply during the talks while cross-border attacks into Afghanistan by militants doubled in March "Indeed, Washington and Islamabad seem to be on dueling timetables, with the Bush administration trying to cripple Al Qaeda's safe havens before leaving office, and the new Pakistani government seeking to establish credibility with its public by distancing itself from the American-backed policies of President Pervez Musharraf." the front-page dispatch said. Citing American officials, the dispatch said that Washington's options now are even more limited, in part because Mr. Musharraf is no longer calling the shots, and that the situation in the tribal areas is unlikely to significantly improve before President George W. Bush leaves office. "The problems confronting the administration reflect what critics say is a failure over the past several years to pay sufficient attention to the growing numbers of Qaeda and Taliban fighters drawn to safe havens in the tribal area," the report said. "Even under Mr. Musharraf, the administration's main ally in Pakistan, the United States failed to develop a government-wide plan to combat the militancy in the turbulent borderlands," it said, citing critics. The Times' added: "The leaders of Pakistan's new government, Asif Ali Zardari of the Pakistan Peoples Party and Nawaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League-N, have vowed to honour their campaign pledges to break with Mr. Musharraf's emphasis on using military force in the tribal areas, a practice critics say has been heavy-handed and has undercut the government's goals. "The government has begun a negotiating strategy that officials hope will win over those in the tribal areas who in recent years have been caught up in a wave of anti-American sentiment and, in some cases, who are actively helping Al Qaeda."