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But in a sign of continuing differences with Britain, his remarks were almost immediately contradicted by David Cameron. The prime minister again urged the Pakistani leader to do more "to close down terrorist groups in Pakistan that threaten British lives".
In an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde, Zardari said: "I believe that the international community, which Pakistan belongs to, is in the process of losing the war against the Taliban. And that is, above all, because we have lost the battle for hearts and minds."
He appeared to criticise Barack Obama's revised military strategy in Afghanistan, which includes a surge of 30,000 additional combat troops.
"The chief failures of the coalition are having underestimated the situation on the ground and not having realised the sheer size of the problem. Military reinforcements are just a small part of the answer," Zardari said.
"In order to win the support of the Afghan people, we have to bring them economic development and prove to them that we can not only change their lives but above all improve them … The action of the international community should be focused on the long-term. Success for the insurgents comes from knowing how to wait. Time is on their side.
"The whole approach seems to me to be mistaken. The people do not associate the coalition's intervention with future wellbeing."
Zardari made his comments in Paris where he met President Nicolas Sarkozy and senior officials. He arrived in Britain tonight for a four-day visit that will include a meeting with Cameron at Chequers on Friday.
The encounter is expected to be tense following the row that erupted over Cameron's remarks in India last week, in which he accused Pakistan, or elements within Pakistan, of exporting terror and playing a double game.
A visit to Britain by a Pakistani intelligence delegation was cancelled at the weekend. On Monday, a senior Pakistani official told the Guardian that Zardari intended to educate Cameron and "put him straight" about the situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Asked by Le Monde what he would say to Cameron, Zardari said: "I will tell him straight that the war on terror should be bringing us together and not setting us against each other. I will look him in the eye and tell him it is my country that is paying the highest price of this war in terms of human life … A frank discussion will allow us to restore a bit of serenity. This is why I am not cancelling my visit to London despite this serious accusation. The relationship between our two countries is old and sufficiently robust for that."
Downing Street is adamant that Cameron will not apologise for his comments when he meets Zardari on Friday. The prime minister offered a foretaste of what could be a difficult meeting in an interview with BBC WM radio in Birmingham.
"I gave a pretty clear and frank answer to a clear and frank question and I don't regret that at all," Cameron said. "It is important to speak frankly about these things while at the same time, as I did in India, recognising that in Pakistan they themselves have suffered terribly from terrorism."
He went on: "Obviously people have strong views but I also have a strong view that terrorism is wrong and there are terrorist groups in Pakistan that threaten British lives and have been responsible for terrorist atrocities and we have to close down those groups." He said Pakistan had done "extraordinary things to close them down, but they need to do even more extraordinary things".
Cameron rejected the idea the west was losing in Afghanistan. "We're protecting a large percentage of the population [in central Helmand province] keeping them free from terror and, in the areas that we are in, you now see markets functioning and schools open … and life is actually able to go on. So I don't accept that we're losing the battle of hearts and minds."
In his Le Monde interview, Zardari poured cold water on reports that Pakistan was leading efforts to forge a peace settlement with "moderate" elements of the Afghan Taliban. At the same time he declined to condemn such initiatives.
"That's absurd. There are not nice Taliban with whom you can talk and nasty ones that you have to fight. Pakistan and its people are the victims of terrorists. We are not merely defending our borders; we are fighting against terror and those that propagate it."
Zardari has come under fire at home and from British-Pakistani parliamentarians for going overseas as floods have devastated parts of Pakistan and for allegedly using the trip to drum up support for his Pakistan People's party and its anointed future leader, his son Bilawal Bhutto.
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