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| September 27, 2006 | Wednesday | Ramazan 3, 1427 |
Bush to meet Musharraf, Karzai today
WASHINGTON, Sept 26: President Pervez Musharraf is slated to meet US President George W. Bush and Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday to seek ways to bridge their disagreements on the fight against Taliban, particularly along the Pakistan-Afghan border.
It is probably the first Iftar-dinner a United States president is hosting for two Muslim leaders. The White House Iftars are usually hosted for Muslim ambassadors based in Washington, although President Bush and senior members of his cabinet also attend.
The US administration is concerned over a sudden increase in tension between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
President Karzai blames Pakistan for his troubles. During his current visit to the US, Mr Karzai has accused Pakistan of ‘training a snake’ and warned that one day this ‘snake’ is going to bite Islamabad as well.
President Karzai claimed that he could give Gen Musharraf the telephone numbers and address of Taliban chief Mullah Omar’s hideout in Quetta.
President Musharraf has dismissed Mr Karzai’s contention that Pakistani intelligence is complicit in providing safe haven to Taliban leaders like Mullah Omar.
“It’s unfortunate Mr Karzai thinks that all this is happening from Pakistan’s side,” he said. “Mullah Omar has never come to Pakistan after 1995.”
Mullah Omar, he said, was holed up near Kandahar where he enjoyed widespread support among the local Pukhtun population.
During a joint news conference with President Musharraf in Washington last week, President Bush said: “When the president looks me in the eye and says … that there won’t be a Taliban and there won’t be Al Qaeda, I believe him.”
The US media, however, support the Afghan president. “Rather than crack down, Gen Musharraf in early September signed a truce that essentially guaranteed free rein for the extremists,” commented the Los Angeles Times.
“President Karzai is rightfully angry, and President Bush has ample reason to side with him. Not only is the Afghan violence harming US troops, but key Al Qaeda figures, including Osama bin Laden, are believed to be hiding out in Pakistan,” the newspaper claimed.
To dispel the impression, President Musharraf brought the NWFP governor with him to brief Mr Bush, particularly on the North Waziristan peace agreement which is depicted in the US media as a licence to terrorists to operate across the Afghan border.
At the news conference, Mr Bush said the NWFP governor had briefed him and members of his national security team on the strategy to strengthen governance and to promote economic development in the tribal belt.
The events in Afghanistan, however, are also forcing some media outlets to reconsider their blanket support to the Afghan leader.
“Touted as a showcase of the success of Washington’s ‘War on terror,’ Afghanistan has become increasingly unstable and crisis-ridden over the last 12 months,” notes the CNN.
The report points out that Mr Karzai’s power, never broad-based at the best of times, was “now effectively limited to the capital Kabul and its immediate surroundings (detractors have long dismissed him as “the mayor of Kabul).”
It notes that Taliban are just one of a series of hurdles facing President Karzai in his attempts to stabilise and rebuild his country.
“Much of Afghanistan is effectively controlled by warlords and private militias; crime and corruption are rife; and the cultivation of opium has rocketed.
“Widespread human rights abuses, healthcare deficiencies, discrimination and violence against women and chronic food shortages further darken an already bleak picture.”
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