OMEN
09-06-2006, 11:46 PM
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Pakistani President Musharraf and Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai.
Pakistan, criticised by some Afghan leaders over cross-border infiltration by the Taliban, vowed to help its neighbour fight terrorism as Afghanistan battles its worst violence in five years.
After lengthy talks with his Afghan counterpart, Hamid Karzai, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said he was committed to crushing the Taliban, their al Qaeda allies and "Talibanisation", a reference to the spread of hardline Islam.
"The best way to fight this common enemy is to join hands, trust each other and form a common strategy," he told reporters in Kabul, days before the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks that prompted the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan.
The use of Pakistani territory by the Taliban, other militant groups and criminals has soured relations between the two countries. Rebels and criminals can freely cross the rugged mountainous frontier, barely controlled in parts.
Some Afghan leaders have accused Islamabad of failing to do enough to stop infiltration, or even of continuing to support its former protege, the Taliban.
Islamabad says it does all it can and on Tuesday struck a deal with pro-Taliban rebels in a tribal region bordering Afghanistan under which the militants agreed to stop raids in both Pakistan and across the border.
No Talibanisation
"Any militant activity will be addressed with force. No Talibanisation. No Taliban activity on our side of the border and across the border in Afghanistan," Musharraf said.
Karzai welcomed the assurances. "I am very happy today that ... the president of Pakistan assured me that he will try to get rid of this disease from the region," Karzai told a joint news conference at his palace.
Hundreds of Pakistani troops and rebels have been killed in the Waziristan region as the government attempts to push its authority into the semi-autonomous tribal lands on the border.
While the United States and other Afghan allies reject accusations that Pakistan continues to formally support the Taliban, some analysts say moral and other cross-border support from groups with strong ethnic and cultural ties remains.
The issue of cross-border movement clouded President George W. Bush's visit to Islamabad early this year and Musharraf's pledge comes ahead of a trip to the United States and Cuba and an expected meeting with Bush.
In Washington, White House spokesman Tony Snow said Islamabad says the Waziristan ceasefire would not undermine the hunt for Osama bin Laden and was aimed at combating extremism.
With the Taliban regrouping, especially in its birthplace of Kandahar province bordering Pakistan, NATO launched its biggest offensive against the guerrillas at the weekend.
NATO says it has killed more than 250 Taliban fighters, but the Taliban says NATO casualty estimates are exaggerated. At least five Canadian soldiers have died in combat in the campaign, Operation Medusa, and 14 British troops were killed when their plane crashed.
Three more British soldiers died on Wednesday, the defence ministry said. Two died in clashes in Helmand, the major drug-growing province west of Kandahar, while a third died after being wounded in fighting last Friday.
Also on Wednesday, a suicide bomber attacked a car in eastern Khost province, mistaking it for one belonging to a district chief, and killed a headmaster and a civil servant.
NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the alliance would not be deterred by the Taliban resurgence and would go ahead with its planned takeover from U.S.-led forces in the volatile east. The alliance is due to take control of the east, near Pakistan, by year-end.
"The ongoing violence in some areas of the country, as we are experiencing and witnessing today, will not deter NATO from carrying out its mission," he said, winding up a visit by a high-level delegation from the alliance.
NATO forces have run into stiffer-than-expected resistance from the Taliban leading up to and following their July 31 takeover of the south from U.S. troops.
Reuters
Pakistani President Musharraf and Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai.
Pakistan, criticised by some Afghan leaders over cross-border infiltration by the Taliban, vowed to help its neighbour fight terrorism as Afghanistan battles its worst violence in five years.
After lengthy talks with his Afghan counterpart, Hamid Karzai, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said he was committed to crushing the Taliban, their al Qaeda allies and "Talibanisation", a reference to the spread of hardline Islam.
"The best way to fight this common enemy is to join hands, trust each other and form a common strategy," he told reporters in Kabul, days before the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks that prompted the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan.
The use of Pakistani territory by the Taliban, other militant groups and criminals has soured relations between the two countries. Rebels and criminals can freely cross the rugged mountainous frontier, barely controlled in parts.
Some Afghan leaders have accused Islamabad of failing to do enough to stop infiltration, or even of continuing to support its former protege, the Taliban.
Islamabad says it does all it can and on Tuesday struck a deal with pro-Taliban rebels in a tribal region bordering Afghanistan under which the militants agreed to stop raids in both Pakistan and across the border.
No Talibanisation
"Any militant activity will be addressed with force. No Talibanisation. No Taliban activity on our side of the border and across the border in Afghanistan," Musharraf said.
Karzai welcomed the assurances. "I am very happy today that ... the president of Pakistan assured me that he will try to get rid of this disease from the region," Karzai told a joint news conference at his palace.
Hundreds of Pakistani troops and rebels have been killed in the Waziristan region as the government attempts to push its authority into the semi-autonomous tribal lands on the border.
While the United States and other Afghan allies reject accusations that Pakistan continues to formally support the Taliban, some analysts say moral and other cross-border support from groups with strong ethnic and cultural ties remains.
The issue of cross-border movement clouded President George W. Bush's visit to Islamabad early this year and Musharraf's pledge comes ahead of a trip to the United States and Cuba and an expected meeting with Bush.
In Washington, White House spokesman Tony Snow said Islamabad says the Waziristan ceasefire would not undermine the hunt for Osama bin Laden and was aimed at combating extremism.
With the Taliban regrouping, especially in its birthplace of Kandahar province bordering Pakistan, NATO launched its biggest offensive against the guerrillas at the weekend.
NATO says it has killed more than 250 Taliban fighters, but the Taliban says NATO casualty estimates are exaggerated. At least five Canadian soldiers have died in combat in the campaign, Operation Medusa, and 14 British troops were killed when their plane crashed.
Three more British soldiers died on Wednesday, the defence ministry said. Two died in clashes in Helmand, the major drug-growing province west of Kandahar, while a third died after being wounded in fighting last Friday.
Also on Wednesday, a suicide bomber attacked a car in eastern Khost province, mistaking it for one belonging to a district chief, and killed a headmaster and a civil servant.
NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the alliance would not be deterred by the Taliban resurgence and would go ahead with its planned takeover from U.S.-led forces in the volatile east. The alliance is due to take control of the east, near Pakistan, by year-end.
"The ongoing violence in some areas of the country, as we are experiencing and witnessing today, will not deter NATO from carrying out its mission," he said, winding up a visit by a high-level delegation from the alliance.
NATO forces have run into stiffer-than-expected resistance from the Taliban leading up to and following their July 31 takeover of the south from U.S. troops.
Reuters