A Pakistani American was on Friday charged with conspiring to help the Al Qaeda.

Uzair Paracha, who has a green card, was charged in a criminal complaint filed by the attorney for the southern district of New York in the Manhattan federal court.

Paracha, 23, who has a business in New York and an office in Karachi, will be presented before the judge later on Friday.

In a sworn affidavit, Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent J M Miller said that during one of his visits to Pakistan, most recently in February 2003, Paracha met an Al Qaeda member at his Karachi office and agreed to help him get documents that would allow the latter to re-enter the US.

Paracha also agreed to take his place while meeting US immigration officials.

During the meeting, Paracha was told by the Al Qaeda associate and another person that they wanted to invest $200,000 in Paracha's business.

Paracha was advised not to ask any questions about the money because the two were associates of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.

"Paracha believed the funds to be Al Qaeda money and that the two wanted to keep the funds liquid and to be able to retrieve them on short notice," the affidavit said.

According to the complaint, Paracha began working out of an office in Manhattan after returning to the US in February and in due course received two calls from the Al Qaeda member, who wanted to know the status of the entry documents.

In March, New York Joint Terrorism Task Force members interviewed Paracha, who admitted to having several items of identification belonging to the Al Qaeda member.

Later, during a search the Task Force members found a Maryland driver's licence in the Al Qaeda member's name, a bank ATM/check card and a post box key that matched the box that Paracha said had been rented by the Al Qaeda member.

A report said quoting the family that last month Paracha's father Saifullah was arrested in Pakistan. Paracha's father Saifullah, it said, had travelled to Afghanistan frequently when the Taliban was in power. It was not clear on what grounds the senior Paracha was arrested.

"This case demonstrates that Al Qaeda will go to great lengths to enlist support here in the United States," Attorney General John Ashcroft said in a statement.

"Our efforts are focused on identifying and dismantling those rings of support on which our terrorist enemies seek to rely."

The prosecution seems to be trying to build a case that since Paracha was aware that the two people he met in Karachi were supporters of Al Qaeda, he knew what he was doing.

If convicted, Paracha faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.