Australia has despatched a team of 120 military personnel to the devastated Kashmir region for about three months as part of its contribution to the international aid effort.

Howard said Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf during a telephone call Sunday had thanked him for the troops, who arrived Sunday night.

"I will be visiting Pakistan within the next two weeks in between my visit to the APEC meeting in Korea and the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Malta," he said.

"General Musharraf had rung me to talk about a donors' conference that is being organised in Islamabad to maintain the momentum of international support for the victims of the terrible earthquake in his country."

The earthquake killed 74,000 people, seriously injured more than 69,000 and left more than three million homeless.

A spokeswoman for Howard said the official dates of his visit to Pakistan had not yet been released.

It will fall between his visit to South Korea on November 19 and 20 for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum meeting, and the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Malta on November 25 and 26.

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