The United States today hailed Malaysia as a "beacon of stability" and a strong partner in the war on terrorism ahead of a visit by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to the White House next month.

The fresh signs that the chilly relations between the two countries have thawed since the Sept 11 terror attacks on the US came at a news conference by US Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly at the end of a four-day visit here.

He said US President George W Bush would thank Mahathir for his "stirring response" in the war against terrorism, during his visit to the US from May 13-15.

The two leaders last met on the sidelines of a regional summit in Shanghai in late October, but this will be Mahathir's first trip to the White House since 1994.

Kelly said Bush would also express appreciation for remarks on terrorism that Mahathir made at a meeting here this month of the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

Mahathir told OIC foreign ministers that terrorism could be defined as attacks on civilians, noting that this would include Palestinian suicide bombers as terrorists.

His definition did not go down well with many of the Middle Eastern countries represented at the meeting, and the final declaration specifically excluded the Palestinians from being labelled terrorists.

Mahathir made it clear at the conference however that he remained a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause, including Israeli soldiers who attacked civilians in his definition of terrorists.

And he was later quoted by the official Bernama news agency as saying it was legitimate to use terror tactics in response to terrorism.

Anwar still an issue

Ties between the two countries soured after former US president Bill Clinton's deputy Al Gore was seen to express support for anti-government demonstrators at a 1999 Asia-Pacific regional conference in Kuala Lumpur.

The demonstrators were protesting the sacking and jailing of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, and Kelly made it clear that the issue remains a sore point in relations.

He said Mahathir's upcoming visit to Washington had not altered the US view that Anwar, who is serving a total of 15 years in jail on corruption and sodomy charges, was a political prisoner.

Kelly said the US government was firm in its stand that Anwar's trials "were very political in nature" and expressed the hope that his appeal cases would be handled "fairly and transparently".

Critics say the charges against Anwar were trumped up to prevent a political challenge to Mahathir, who has been in power for 20 years. The government denies this.

Another point of friction between the two countries in the past has been Malaysia's use of indefinite detention without trial under the Internal Security Act, but this was not raised by Kelly.

Mahathir has used the act to detain dozens of alleged Islamic militants in recent months.