Leader admits Islamic militants at work on Pakistani soil
Extremists along the border support Taliban activity in Afghanistan, says President Pervez Musharraf at a traditional council where tribal elders vow to fight terrorism.
By M. Karim Faiez and Laura King
Special to The LA Times
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN — Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf made an unusually frank acknowledgment today that Islamic militants are operating in tribal areas on his nation's side of the border with Afghanistan and providing support to insurgents fighting U.S. and NATO troops.
Musharraf's comments came in a joint appearance with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the closing session of a four-day tribal gathering in the Afghan capital, at which the neighboring nations pledged to cooperate in the fight against the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
The traditional council, or jirga, was planned more than a year ago during simultaneous visits to Washington by Musharraf and Karzai. The Bush administration has for months urged the two leaders to work together and tone down mutual blame-laying over militants' presence in the tribal belt that straddles their 1,500-mile border.
As recently as last month, Pakistan sharply contested U.S. intelligence claims of a well- established Al Qaeda and Taliban presence in tribal areas on the Pakistani side of the border, where the central government has little or no authority.
After the release of a major U.S. intelligence report in July describing those areas as a safe haven for these groups, Pakistani officials said they had not been provided with hard evidence to back up the claims.
In his address, however, Musharraf admitted that "many of our border regions, especially the tribal areas, have been deeply affected by extremism."
"There is support from these areas to Taliban activity inside Afghanistan," he said. "There is no doubt Afghan militants are supported from Pakistani soil."
The jirgabrought together about 600 tribal elders from both sides of the border. Conspicuously absent, though, were representatives from Pakistan's tribal area of North Waziristan, which has been the focal point of fighting between Pakistani security forces and insurgents.
(Continued here.)
By M. Karim Faiez and Laura King
Special to The LA Times
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN — Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf made an unusually frank acknowledgment today that Islamic militants are operating in tribal areas on his nation's side of the border with Afghanistan and providing support to insurgents fighting U.S. and NATO troops.
Musharraf's comments came in a joint appearance with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the closing session of a four-day tribal gathering in the Afghan capital, at which the neighboring nations pledged to cooperate in the fight against the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
The traditional council, or jirga, was planned more than a year ago during simultaneous visits to Washington by Musharraf and Karzai. The Bush administration has for months urged the two leaders to work together and tone down mutual blame-laying over militants' presence in the tribal belt that straddles their 1,500-mile border.
As recently as last month, Pakistan sharply contested U.S. intelligence claims of a well- established Al Qaeda and Taliban presence in tribal areas on the Pakistani side of the border, where the central government has little or no authority.
After the release of a major U.S. intelligence report in July describing those areas as a safe haven for these groups, Pakistani officials said they had not been provided with hard evidence to back up the claims.
In his address, however, Musharraf admitted that "many of our border regions, especially the tribal areas, have been deeply affected by extremism."
"There is support from these areas to Taliban activity inside Afghanistan," he said. "There is no doubt Afghan militants are supported from Pakistani soil."
The jirgabrought together about 600 tribal elders from both sides of the border. Conspicuously absent, though, were representatives from Pakistan's tribal area of North Waziristan, which has been the focal point of fighting between Pakistani security forces and insurgents.
(Continued here.)
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