US President Bush on 18 September admitted that the US-sponsored roadmap for peace had 'stalled'. Bush blamed the failed leadership of Yasser Arafat for the current impasse. After talks with King Abdullah of Jordan, Bush accused Arafat of undermining Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) during his short tenure as Palestinian Prime Minister. He did not, however, mention the newly nominated Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei (Abu Ala). 'I believed Prime Minister Abbas, when he told me at Sharm el-Sheikh, then at Aqaba, then the Oval Office, he would do everything in his power to fight terror, that he would work to consolidate the security forces so that he could fight terror - and his efforts were undermined, and that is why we are now stalled,' he said.