Taliban deny Pakistan’s backing

SPIN BOLDAK—The Taliban on Saturday denied accusations by Afghan leaders the group was being sponsored by Pakistan, an issue souring relations between the two nations.
A senior rebel commander, Hayat Khan, said Afghan President Hamid Karzai was trying to hide his own failure and the Taliban movement lived only on the support of ordinary people. “Karzai’s allegations are baseless. We neither have any links with Pakistan nor is the country helping the Taliban,” Khan said on a satellite phone from a secret location. “The Taliban movement is continuing only with the support of the Afghan people.
“Instead of shedding crocodile tears, Hamid Karzai should resign and join the Taliban ranks for jihad against the infidel occupiers to liberate Afghanistan,” he added, referring to Karzai crying during a speech about civilian deaths this week. In his strongest comments yet, Karzai said this week “terrorist nests” operated from Pakistan. In talks with a European Union official in Islamabad on Friday, Musharraf repeated Pakistan’s position that “the militancy problem was essentially an Afghan problem”.—Agencies