WASHINGTON (AFP) -- The United States promised to review the case of a Canadian man who was cleared by his own government of terrorism links but remains on a U.S. terrorist "watch list."

Secretary of Stat Condoleezza Rice announced the review of allegations against Maher Arar following talks with her Canadian counterpart, Peter MacKay, over a case that has clouded the normally warm U.S.-Canadian ties.

But Rice insisted that given the "post-September 11 circumstances" facing the United States, Washington will "come to its own conclusion" on Arar and other terrorist matters.

U.S. authorities, acting on information from Canada, detained the Syrian-born Arar as a terror suspect in September 2002 when he landed in New York on a stopover while returning to Canada from a trip to Tunisia.

The United States deported the 36-year-old software engineer to Syria, where he was jailed and tortured for more than a year before being released.

He was later cleared of terrorist ties by a Canadian judicial inquiry, but the US Department of Homeland Security and Justice Department refused to follow suit.

"We've removed him from our watch list and we've urged the United States to take the same steps," MacKay said at a joint press conference with Rice following a meeting and lunch at the State Department.

Rice said the head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, would "personally review" the reasons Arar remains on the U.S. watchlist.