Karen Hughes, the US under secretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs and a close adviser to George Bush, has visited the headquarters of Aljazeera in Qatar, three months after revelations about purported US plans to bomb the news channel.
On Saturday Hughes met Aljazeera's management for nearly two hours and recorded an interview with the satellite channel that will be broadcast at a later date, one of her aides told AFP.
"She had a very positive discussion with the management of Aljazeera," said the aide, who did not wish to be identified.
Hughes is scheduled to address a US-Islamic forum in Doha amid continued deadly protests in the Muslim world over the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad and over new images of abuse of Iraqi prisoners by British and US troops in Iraq.
Last year, Bush picked Hughes, his long time personal adviser and communications chief, to lead an effort to improve perceptions of the United States amid persistent international opposition to the war in Iraq.
She had appeared on Aljazeera programmes in the past from Washington.
In November, British tabloid Daily Mirror, citing a top secret Downing Street memorandum, reported that Bush had discussed bombing the Arabic language channel but was dissuaded by Tony Blair, the British prime minister.
The White House has called the story "outlandish" despite strong indignation and protests from Aljazeera.