President in Kabul for 'war on terror' talks

KABUL—President Pervez Musharraf has arrived in Afghanistan for talks on the "war on terror" amid Afghan claims that Islamabad is not doing enough to tackle the roots of the Taliban insurgency.
The keenly awaited visit Wednesday comes after increased international pressure on Musharraf to deal with Islamist groups that Afghanistan says are fomenting the Taliban uprising.
Musharraf was whisked through the war-scarred capital Kabul to the presidential palace in a tightly secured motorcade that included gunfitted military vehicles.
He was due to go into talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai after a formal welcome with a guard of honour.
The general, who was last in Afghanistan in 2002, is also scheduled to address cabinet members, parliamentarians and other policymakers on Thursday.
The visit comes amid a spike in the Taliban insurgency, which Afghan officials allege is being fed by Taliban and Al-Qaeda leaders who are based in Pakistan and sending militants into Afghanistan to fight.
The presidents would have "frank discussions on the war on terror and expanding bilateral cooperation on regional issues," Karzai's office said.
"They will exchange views on bilateral relations, economic cooperation, reconstruction activities in Afghanistan and cooperation in the fight against terrorism," Pakistan foreign office spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam told newsmen.
The Islamic neighbours had a heated exchange earlier in the year after Musharraf dismissed Afghan intelligence about Taliban and Al-Qaeda leaders allegedly living in Pakistan as "nonsense."
Afghan officials also say Islamabad could do more against Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants who fled to Pakistan after the Taliban government was toppled in 2001 and are directing the insurgency.
Pakistan has 80,000 troops along the frontier to stop militants from crossing over and has also arrested some key Al-Qaeda leaders.
"Pakistan has the potential to be the solution to the problems of Afghanistan," Afghan foreign ministry advisor Ali Muradian said.
"We hope that President Musharraf will open a new chapter in relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan."
Many Afghans are still suspicious of their neighbour because it helped to bring the Taliban to power in 1996 and was one of only three nations that recognised the extremist theocracy as a legitimate government.
Musharraf's trip comes a day after the Pakistan government announced it had signed a "peace deal" with pro-Taliban militants in the North Waziristan belt. In return the militants agreed to disarm or expel foreign Al-Qaeda-linked fighters.
The move, the details of which have not been made clear, has raised concern in Afghanistan.
The agreement will likely be "meaningless", said one Western diplomat, who questioned its announcement just before Musharraf's visit.
"The key concern is whether the agreement is going to lead to more insurgents going to and fro across the border or less," another diplomat said.
Some Afghan newspapers questioned if the visit would yield anything new.
The aim "seems to be an effort by America to bring closer these rival leaders but as previous experiences have shown, Pakistan's pledges have remained on paper without being implemented," the Cheragh daily said in an editorial.
Musharraf and Karzai are due to meet with US President George W. Bush on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly later this month.
The Kabul Times said Afghanistan was grateful for Pakistan's help to thousands of Afghan refugees but pointed out that the neighbour had long interfered in the country's affairs.
Pakistani nationals were also being caught "red-handed together with Taliban in skirmishes" and the rebels' "sophisticated" weapons clearly came from outside Afghanistan, it said.
Musharraf is heading a 27-member delegation, including several cabinet members -- among them ministers for foreign and religious affairs and the petroleum sector, and the head of Pakistan's intelligence agency.—Agencies