WASHINGTON, Jan 27: Afghan President Hamid Karzai believes that Benazir Bhutto’s assassination has forced both Pakistan and Afghanistan to realise that they have to fight terrorism together.

In an interview to The Washington Post published on Sunday, Mr Karzai urged the rest of the world to help Pakistan and Afghanistan fight the extremists.

He said that during his last visit to Islamabad he had discussed the presence of alleged terrorist bases in Pakistan with President Musharraf, noting that now “we do see eye-to-eye more than before on this question.”

Mr Karzai attributed this change in Islamabad’s attitude to Ms Bhutto’s murder and to a sudden increase in terrorist activities in Pakistan.

“Why is that? Because of the glaring blow that we have. Because of her death, because of the bomb blasts, because of the suicide bombs killing people in mosques,” he said.

“It’s unbelievable. It is impossible for us -- even if you want to ignore this in Pakistan -- to ignore it any more. How can we deny it?”

Asked if President Musharraf agreed with him that it was now impossible to deny the presence of terrorist bases in Pakistan, Mr Karzai said: “Oh, he absolutely agrees that there is a problem and that we have to fix it.”

The interviewer, Lally Weymouth, told him that when she interviewed Ms Bhutto a few days before her death she told her, “I feel they are going to come knocking at my door one night.”

Commenting on the statement, Mr Karzai said: “Unfortunately, her death, the way it happened, proves her point. That’s the irony. That’s the sad thing about her death. She predicted something, and she proved right in that prediction. So it must be listened to.”

The Afghan president said that extremism could not be used “as a tool for any purpose” because it could destabilise the whole region.