President Asif Ali Zardari is under US pressure to work with PML (N) leader Nawaz Sharif, whom Washongton has been courting in recent days, a report from Washington says.

US President Barack Obama will convey the new thinking personally to Zardari on the sidelines of US-Pak-Afghanistan summit this week

While the details of the  US Plan are still shrouded in mystery, it is said the Obama Administration is trying to work out a power-sharing deal between Zardari and Nawaz sharif in its bid to strengthen the civilian government in combating the Taliban challenge.

Both Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have spoken with Nawaz Sharif by telephone; they have urged Zardari’s “increasingly unpopular government” to work closely with Sharif.