Afghans urged to end blame game
He urged Afghanistan to put aside past rows over cross-border infiltration and work with Pakistan on a new strategy to combat the Taliban across Afghanistan with violence at its worst since the 2001 US-led invasion of the country.
President Musharraf is winding up a two-day visit to Afghanistan which analysts say is largely aimed at smoothing over tensions caused by the hardline Islamists, their Al Qaeda allies and other groups operating from the wild border areas of his country.
“Certainly, I completely agree that Al Qaeda and the Taliban are operating both in Pakistan and Afghanistan,” he said in a speech to community and political leaders.
“Certainly, there are some who are crossing from Pakistan to Afghanistan,” he said, adding it was not sponsored by his government.
“This blame game has to stop. We have to stop this blame game on both sides ... and trust each other.”
President Musharraf said the priority was to break the Taliban’s command structure, headed by Mullah Mohammad Omar, from his base in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, where Nato forces began their biggest anti-guerrilla offensive on Saturday.
Referring to Taliban activities in both countries, he said: “This is not sponsored by Pakistan. The Pakistan government or I or the ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) are not — I repeat not — behind anything happening in Afghanistan.”
“What is disturbing is when you think that the government of Pakistan and the ISI … is doing it. Which means you are telling me that I am doing it.
“If they are doing something on their own, I should leave my job because I am incompetent and useless,” he said.
“You blame us for whatever is happening in Afghanistan,” said President Musharraf, who left Kabul on Thursday afternoon after his first visit since 2002.
“Every bomb blast — Pakistan is doing it; every suicide bombing — Pakistan is doing it,” he said, calling for an end to the ‘blame game.’
Qudssia Akhlaque adds from Islamabad: Pakistan and Afghanistan on Thursday reaffirmed commitment to further consolidate bilateral relations and agreed to intensify cooperation to jointly fight the common threat of terrorism, extremism and the phenomenon of Talibanisation.
This resolve was reflected in a joint statement issued at the end of President Musharraf’s visit to Kabul.
According to the joint statement released here by the Foreign Office, President Musharraf and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai in a meeting agreed that extremism, terrorism and the phenomenon of Talibanisation were a common threat to both Afghanistan and Pakistan, as it was a danger to the region.
They agreed that the greatest challenge facing both societies was progress and socio-economic development. No forces must be allowed, they agreed, to impede progress towards this goal.
President Karzai appreciated the recent agreement between the government of Pakistan and local militants in North Waziristan, which forbids cross-border infiltration of Taliban into Afghanistan.