KABUL, Oct 15: Afghan Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta on Sunday accused Pakistan of trying to play down the threat of ‘international terrorism’ by labelling the Taliban uprising in Afghanistan an ethnic issue.

“The Pakistan president wants to play down the issue of international terrorism ... to an ethnic issue in Afghanistan — that’s not true,” said Mr Spanta, in response to a claim by President Pervez Musharraf that Taliban insurgents had roots among Afghanistan’s Pashtun tribes.

“The terrorism which is religious extremism is a global network operating against Afghanistan and other democratic states from Russia to India to America with the support of a country,” Mr Spanta told a news conference in Kabul, in a clear reference to Pakistan.

President Musharraf made his comments in a speech to the European Parliament in mid-September.

Afghan and international officials say radical groups in Pakistan support the Taliban in their increasingly bloody insurgency against the Afghan government, claims Islamabad denies.—-AFP