"This is an issue that is not on the table," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said, refusing to take sides in the standoff and insisting that Washington had a ‘broad’ Pakistan policy.

The top Bush administration official was asked if the US is considering giving asylum to Musharraf as a way to help settle the crisis stemming from the PPP-led coalition government's move to impeach him.

Rice underscored that Musharraf was a "good" ally and "was just to his word" but at the same time pointed that the Bush administration has been supportive of the democratic Government and was more focused on the war on terror.

"President Musharraf has been a good ally and everyone knows that we disagreed with his decision in terms of the state of emergency that he declared. But he was just to his word, he took off his uniform. It is now a democratic Government in Pakistan," she said on Fox News Sunday programme.

"I want to keep our focus on what we must do with the democratic Government of Pakistan," she said while answering a question on the political crisis in Pakistan.