Afghan Leader Confronts Pakistan Over Terror Support

President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan has handed over extensive intelligence dossiers to Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf detailing how suicide bombers who attack targets in Afghanistan are being recruited, trained and equipped in Pakistan.

Although Mr Karzai stopped short of accusing Pakistan's military regime of perpetrating the attacks, he said the US and Britain would be "stepping up pressure on Islamabad" to take action to stop the attacks, as British troops soon deploy in southern Afghanistan.

Mr Karzai was on a landmark three-day visit to the Pakistani capital Islamabad which ended yesterday.

At least 30 suicide bomb attacks have killed nearly 100 people in Afghanistan, including civilians, over the past three months.

Mr Karzai faces extreme pressure at home where anti-Pakistan sentiment is rising. There have been dozens of demonstrations over allegations that Pakistan's Interservices Intelligence (ISI) is giving support to the Taliban.

"We have provided President Musharraf with a lot of very detailed information on acts of terrorism being carried out in Afghanistan and we discussed in great detail what actions Pakistan could now take," Mr Karzai told The Daily Telegraph.

"Americans are dying, a Canadian diplomat has been killed, our people are suffering, so it is time that action is taken to stop these acts of terrorism and interference in Afghanistan internal affairs.

"After all this information has been given to the Pakistanis, we will see if the bombings will stop or not. We expect results, we expect that terrorist attacks will decrease," he added.

Asked what he would do if the ISI failed to deliver and the perpetrators only went deeper into hiding, Mr Karzai said: "We will uncover them again. We have the abilities to do so and we will come again and again to talk and talk to President Musharraf."

Mr Karzai also made it clear that the US and Britain had increased diplomatic pressure on Pakistan to stop any support to the Taliban. Britain is to deploy 4,000 troops in southern Afghanistan over the next few months, mostly to the province of Helmand, where the Taliban has recently stepped up its activities.

"Britain now has a very special role to play. There will be thousands of British troops deployed in the south against the Taliban and neither Britain nor Afghanistan is in any mood to tolerate any more casualties," said Mr Karzai. "Britain will be piling on the pressure."

The Afghan dossiers include the names and addresses of Pakistani recruiters, trainers and suppliers.

"In places like Karachi, Pakistani extremist groups working on behalf of the Taliban for a fee carry out the recruitment and then bring them to safe houses in Balochistan for training and equipping with the [suicide] vests," said a senior Afghan official who accompanied Mr Karzai.

The official said that all the top Taliban commanders were known to be living in Pakistan with their families and the issue had been repeatedly raised with Pakistan.

Pakistani officials no longer deny that Taliban activity is being co-ordinated from their soil, but they insist that the government has nothing to do with it. After his two-hour meeting with the Afghan leader on Wednesday night, Mr Musharraf called on "all the progressive political elements in Pakistan" to suppress elements who may be abetting the Taliban.

Earlier Mr Musharraf - who usually is vehement in denying any kind of Pakistani involvement - told Mr Karzai that the onus of fighting terrorism "was on both the countries".

He said: "Therefore it is incumbent on both Afghanistan and Pakistan, the governments, the intelligence agencies and the military of both sides, to jointly co-operate, co-ordinate and fight this evil."

they insist that the government has nothing to do with it.

After 9/11 Musharraf gave a speech in English, which only the rich Anglophone Pakistani elite understood, blindly stating that Pakistan is aligning itself with America in the war on terror. A few days later, on September 19,2001, Musharraf made another speech, this time in Urdu, Pakistan's national language, not meant for Western ears. In that speech, Musharraf highlighted his decision to support America with Prophet Mohammed's temporary alliance with his enemies, the Jews, called the Treaty of Hudaybiya. He reminded his jihad loving countrymen that the Prophet made a calculated decision to side with the Jews, so that he can ward off the infidels. Musharraf's message was unmistakable. Pakistan's decision to align with America, which many Pakistanis believe is "controlled" by Jews, was just to ward off a threat from the "infidels", which was a reference to .India, the Hindu majority neighbor of Pakistan. While most Pakistanis would find it hard to understand the intricacies of global politics, they know their Quran well and they knew that Musharraf just promised them that Pakistan's support for jihad would resume after the immediate crisis with America was averted. Musharraf also reminded his countrymen that he had done everything he can for the Taliban and would strive to ensure that they were not defeated. More than two years after Musharraf's two speeches, it is quite clear that whatever Musharraf thought of the promises he made in his English language speech, he definitely meant to live up to the vows he made in his Urdu one.Taliban fighters are now reported to be in control of certain districts in Southern Afghanistan and have been able to harass Afghan and US forces almost at will. In late 2001, Pakistan evacuated hundreds of top Taliban and Al Qaida leaders from the Afghan city of Kunduz. US officials later admitted that Pakistanis used that opportunity to whisk away top Taliban leaders. Afghan President Hamid Karzai gave Pakistani strongman Pervez Musharraf a list of top Taliban leaders comfortably ensconced in Pakistan. Gen.Musharraf has refused to arrest them. Western journalists have been easily able to meet top Taliban leaders in big Pakistani cities. Despite this Pakistani authorities brazenly deny that the Taliban leaders are in their country. Pakistani border guards and troops, instead of stopping the Taliban, have consistently prevented the US troops from attacking the Taliban and have gone as far as attacking US troops. Pakistani madrassa graduates have provided an unlimited number of foot soldiers for cross border attacks on US troops. Clearly, Musharraf has lived up to the promise he made to his countrymen that he will not let the Taliban be harmed. Except for the deaths of the thousands of easily replaced foot soldiers, Musharraf has allowed the Taliban leadership to lie low and strike back when the US is distracted with Iraq. The much-touted Pakistani 180 on the support to the Taliban, has turned out to be a 360.

-Indian army 15 corps

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