KABUL, Aug 1: Afghan President Hamid Karzai has underlined the need for Afghanistan and Pakistan to fight terrorism together, “to fight it in earnest to finish this menace.”

In an interview in Kabul for the BBC’s Asia Today programme, to be broadcast on Saturday, Mr Karzai said he was not worried about the recent incidents of violence in the border provinces and stated that the Taliban had no place among the Afghan people.

“What is important for us in this region, especially for Afghanistan and Pakistan, is to fight terrorism together, to fight it in earnest, to fight it in truth and to finish this menace,” the Afghan President said.

Mr Karzai reiterated his determination to meet the deadlines set by the Bonn process and the Loya Jirga for democratic reforms despite the security situation which, he claimed, was improving.