ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai appealed to Pakistan's powerful military on Thursday to help make his country a strong, stable partner, or risk Pakistan's own progress being hobbled by an unstable neighbor.
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A wave of 15 suicide bombings in Afghanistan since November, most claimed by the Taliban, has outraged Afghans and led to fresh accusations Pakistan is not doing enough to stop militants from launching attacks from the safety of its soil.
Karzai called on Pakistan to intensify its efforts to root out terrorism in talks with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf soon after he arrived in Islamabad on Wednesday.
On Thursday, he made a similar appeal to the institution that has ruled Pakistan for more than half of its history since independence in 1947.
"Preventing progress in Afghanistan is, ladies and gentlemen, exactly preventing progress in Pakistan for very obvious reasons," Karzai told Pakistani army officers at the National Defense College in Islamabad.
"The stronger, the better, the more prosperous Afghanistan, the stronger, the more prosperous is Pakistan," he said.
Although both countries are allies in the U.S.-led war on terrorism, relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan have been testy for much of the time since Pakistan's independence.
Karzai said an unstable Afghanistan would feed terrorism, which both countries were trying to battle.
"A poor friend is a liability, a lame friend is a liability," he said. "If we have to walk together, do you want to have a companion that is sick, that is lame, that can't walk with you. Or do you want to have a companion that is healthy, that can walk with you?"
"ROOTS OF TERRORISM"
Pakistan officially dropped support for the Taliban after the September 11 attacks and has since arrested hundreds of al Qaeda members, including top lieutenants of Osama bin Laden.
Pakistan sent 70,000 troops into tribal lands on the border to flush out al Qaeda-linked foreign militants who took refuge there after the defeat of the Taliban in Afghanistan in late 2001.
But the Taliban, most of them ethnic Pashtun, often with tribal links on both sides of the porous border, are still being allowed to operate from Pakistan, Afghan officials say.
Karzai and his delegation handed over to Pakistan a list of wanted Taliban officials including their fugitive leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, who some Afghan officials believe lives in Pakistan, an Afghan official said.
"We were given cooperation promises and we will see in the future as to what level they will be implemented," an Afghan Defense Ministry official said.
Pakistan rejects accusations that Taliban commanders are plotting and launching attacks into Afghanistan from Pakistani territory.
Musharraf said on Wednesday terrorism was a common enemy and the two countries had to fight it together.
Asked if he was in favor of building a border fence, as Pakistan proposed last year to stop infiltration, Karzai said a fence was not the way to end terrorism.
"Fencing is not a solution," he said. "Going to the roots of terrorists and bad elements, finding them where they get trained, finding them where they get equipped and so drying out the resources of their financial support is the solution."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060216/wl_nm/pakistan_afghan_dc;_ylt=ApNeoAckcLDajDbLG7.MUJ9vaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--
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A wave of 15 suicide bombings in Afghanistan since November, most claimed by the Taliban, has outraged Afghans and led to fresh accusations Pakistan is not doing enough to stop militants from launching attacks from the safety of its soil.
Karzai called on Pakistan to intensify its efforts to root out terrorism in talks with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf soon after he arrived in Islamabad on Wednesday.
On Thursday, he made a similar appeal to the institution that has ruled Pakistan for more than half of its history since independence in 1947.
"Preventing progress in Afghanistan is, ladies and gentlemen, exactly preventing progress in Pakistan for very obvious reasons," Karzai told Pakistani army officers at the National Defense College in Islamabad.
"The stronger, the better, the more prosperous Afghanistan, the stronger, the more prosperous is Pakistan," he said.
Although both countries are allies in the U.S.-led war on terrorism, relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan have been testy for much of the time since Pakistan's independence.
Karzai said an unstable Afghanistan would feed terrorism, which both countries were trying to battle.
"A poor friend is a liability, a lame friend is a liability," he said. "If we have to walk together, do you want to have a companion that is sick, that is lame, that can't walk with you. Or do you want to have a companion that is healthy, that can walk with you?"
"ROOTS OF TERRORISM"
Pakistan officially dropped support for the Taliban after the September 11 attacks and has since arrested hundreds of al Qaeda members, including top lieutenants of Osama bin Laden.
Pakistan sent 70,000 troops into tribal lands on the border to flush out al Qaeda-linked foreign militants who took refuge there after the defeat of the Taliban in Afghanistan in late 2001.
But the Taliban, most of them ethnic Pashtun, often with tribal links on both sides of the porous border, are still being allowed to operate from Pakistan, Afghan officials say.
Karzai and his delegation handed over to Pakistan a list of wanted Taliban officials including their fugitive leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, who some Afghan officials believe lives in Pakistan, an Afghan official said.
"We were given cooperation promises and we will see in the future as to what level they will be implemented," an Afghan Defense Ministry official said.
Pakistan rejects accusations that Taliban commanders are plotting and launching attacks into Afghanistan from Pakistani territory.
Musharraf said on Wednesday terrorism was a common enemy and the two countries had to fight it together.
Asked if he was in favor of building a border fence, as Pakistan proposed last year to stop infiltration, Karzai said a fence was not the way to end terrorism.
"Fencing is not a solution," he said. "Going to the roots of terrorists and bad elements, finding them where they get trained, finding them where they get equipped and so drying out the resources of their financial support is the solution."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060216/wl_nm/pakistan_afghan_dc;_ylt=ApNeoAckcLDajDbLG7.MUJ9vaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--