May 04, 2008	Sunday	Rabi-us-Sani 27, 1429

KABUL, May 3: Afghanistan backs Islamabad’s plan to hold talks with the Pakistani Taliban, the government said on Saturday, but urged its neighbour not to allow the militants space to regroup and launch raids across the border.

Pakistan’s new coalition government has said it wants to open talks with the Taliban in a bid to break with the policies of President Pervez Musharraf.

However, Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, pulled out of a peace deal with Islamabad last week after it refused to withdraw the army from tribal lands. Pakistan has yet to comment on Mehsud’s move.

Media reports had quoted the Pakistani Taliban as vowing to focus attacks in Afghanistan after the peace deal.

The Afghan defence ministry said a 2006 peace deal between Islamabad and the Pakistani Taliban allowed militants to regroup and organise attacks into Afghanistan from South Waziristan.

“Afghanistan supports any measure that leads to the restoration of security and stability, provided such a step does not cause the expansion of further terrorism into Afghanistan,” the government said in a statement about the talks.

“We sincerely ask the Islamic Republic of Pakistan not to allow the terrorists to endanger the lives and security of Afghans by using its soil.”

Most of the violence in Afghanistan since 2006 has happened in southern and eastern areas near the border with Pakistan. Militants have also carried out deadly attacks in parts of Pakistan, especially since last year, but attacks have dropped since the new government was sworn in at the end of March.

Cross-border attacks have strained ties between Kabul and Islamabad who have a historical dispute over the border areas.—Reuters