KABUL, Sept 30: Afghan President Hamid Karzai insisted on Saturday that Osama bin Laden is not in his country.

Other militant leaders including warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar were also not in the country, Mr Karzai told reporters in a briefing about his visit to the United States that was overshadowed by the spat.

“I can assure you they are not in Afghanistan,” Mr Karzai said after being asked for his reaction to comments by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf who said on Thursday that Osama was here.

Asked if he meant the militant leaders were in Pakistan, Mr Karzai responded: “I can only tell you that those you mentioned, their names are not in Afghanistan.”—AFP

Our Correspondent adds from Washington: During their meeting at the White House earlier this week, President Musharraf and President Karzai decided to hold three meetings to sort out their differences, diplomatic sources told Dawn.

One meeting will be held in Islamabad, probably before the two jirgas they plan to hold on each side of the Pakistan-Afghan border.

Afghan Ambassador Said Tayeb Jawad and Pakistan Embassy spokesman Akram Shaheedi confirmed the meetings would take place. Both officials said a timetable had not been fixed for the meetings.

The two leaders are also expected to review the peace agreement that Pakistan signed on Sept 5 with tribal leaders in North Waziristan in an effort to halt cross-border attacks.

The Afghan government has criticised the deal, saying that by ceding military control over the region, Pakistan allowed terrorists to use the tribal belt for staging attacks inside Afghanistan.