April 5, 2006	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 6, 1427

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WASHINGTON, April 4: The Afghan complaint that Pakistan was not doing enough to prevent terrorists from crossing over into Afghanistan would not be discussed when US and Pakistani counter-terrorism experts meet here on Wednesday. “No, this is not on the agenda,” Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao, who is leading the Pakistani delegation to the 4th US-Pakistan Joint Working Group meeting, told Dawn.

“Neither is the list Afghan President Hamid Karzai gave to President Musharraf when the two leaders met in Islamabad on Feb 15,” said Mr Sherpao.

“The Afghans had given us some information most of which was outdated and now the Afghans fully understand it,” said the interior minister while explaining why the issue will not be discussed at the meeting in Washington.

The dispute caused serious differences between Pakistan and Afghanistan last month when President Musharraf publicly complained against the Afghan decision to hand over to the media a list of terrorism suspects Mr Karzai had given him in Islamabad.

In an interview to CNN, President Musharraf also blamed Afghan intelligence agencies for stirring trouble in Balochistan. But Mr Sherpao said that Pakistan would not raise the issue with the Americans as “both sides (Afghanistan and Pakistan) fully understand each other now”.

Last month, President Karzai ousted his foreign minister, Abdullah Abdullah, who was extremely vocal in criticizing Pakistan. Diplomatic observers in Washington say that his departure has also helped improve relations between the two neighbours.

Mr Sherpao said that the US-Pakistan Joint Working Group would focus on cooperation in the war against terror rather than Islamabad’s dispute with Kabul.

“We intend to keep up the pressure to curb terrorism in all its forms and manifestations,” he said. “The focus will be on counter-terrorism measures and the capacity building of our law-enforcement agencies.”

Besides Mr Sherpao, the Pakistani delegation to the meeting includes Additional Secretary Interior Qamar-ul-Zaman Chaudhry and Director General Crises Management Cell Javed Iqbal Cheema.

Ambassador Henry A. Crumpton, the State Department’s coordinator for counter-terrorism, will lead the US team.

The agenda for the meeting includes proposals for providing better equipment and training facilities to Pakistani law-enforcement agencies, Mr Sherpao said. Some Pakistani officials would also come to the US for training, he added.

“The US administration knows and appreciates our position in the war against terror. They have no complaints,” said Mr Sherpao when asked to comment on US media reports that Washington was not satisfied with the cooperation it had so far received from Islamabad.

Other items on the joint group’s agenda include anti-narcotics measures, border security, money laundering, Pakistan’s police reforms and the creation of a national database equipped with an automatic fingerprints identification system.

The group will also review development projects for northern and tribal areas aimed at curbing terrorism.

The US-Pakistan Joint Working Group was formed after 9/11 to promote mutual cooperation in the fight against terrorism. It has already held three meetings, two of them in Islamabad.

During his stay in Washington, Mr Sherpao will also meet Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.