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| Pakistan fully backs fight against Taliban: Musharraf |
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Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Assures maximum vigilance in border areas; terms criticism of ISI unfounded; Nato commander says majority of problems in Afghanistan emanate from within
Shakil Shaikh
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan fully backs the fight against the Taliban, said President Gen Pervez Musharraf in a meeting with Nato Commander Gen David Richards here on Tuesday.
The British general, who commands 31,000 international troops from 37 states in Afghanistan, held an hour-long meeting with the president on security and cooperation, officials said. The two sides had “full and frank” discussion on strengthening fight against terrorism.
Gen Musharraf said Pakistan will continue its support to a strong, secure and stable Afghanistan. Senior officials denied that the Nato commander brought any evidence with regard to Pakistan extending help to the Taliban. Musharraf made it clear that Pakistan would abide by the spirit with which talks were held with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul and Washington.
The president told the Nato commander that maximum vigilance would be kept in areas bordering Afghanistan and that Pakistan would continue to play the role of a frontline state against terrorism.
The basic structure for Pak-Afghan cooperation, said a senior official, was agreed to in the tripartite Washington meeting, involving President Musharraf, US President George W Bush and Afghan President Karzai. The three leaders discussed ways and means to how to expand cooperation between the two neighbouring countries in various fields, including the fight against terrorism.
Gen Richards hailed the president, Pakistan’s armed forces, the government and the security agencies for extending cooperation in the fight against terrorism. “The ISAF wants to build on this and further expand cooperation to defeat the Taliban and terrorists,” the Nato commander was quoted as saying in the meeting.
Musharraf said that a strong and stable Afghanistan would be in the interest of both Afghanistan and Pakistan and for the development of the entire region. Pakistan, he said, being a neighbouring country, would extend all possible help to Afghanistan in its reconstruction and provide various incentives to boost trade relations between the two countries.
Musharraf said Pakistan is assisting Afghanistan in the fight against terrorism and extremism, besides hosting over 2.5 million Afghan refugees. The Nato commander said that the primary purpose of his visit to Pakistan was to thank the president, the government, the armed forces and the security agencies for their cooperation in the fight against terrorism.
He said the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan (ISAF) thinks that a vast majority of problems in Afghanistan have been emanating from within the country, as it had remained highly unstable for more than two decades. He said it is believed that activities of the Taliban were being funded through narcotics trade and other criminal activities.
Vice Chief of the Army Staff Gen Ahsan Saleem Hyat, the British high commissioner to Islamabad and Nato Political Adviser in Afghanistan Terence Jagger were also present during the meeting.
Earlier, David Richards visited the Joint Staff Headquarters and the General Headquarters and met Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Chairman Gen Ehsan ul Haq and Vice Chief of the Army Staff Gen Ahsan Saleem Hyat. They discussed matters of professional interest.
Agencies add: President Musharraf said Pakistan is fighting war on terror on the basis of principles and “our policy on terrorism remains unchanged despite the peace agreement in Waziristan”. Military sources said President Musharraf clearly told the Nato commander that Pakistan’s “successes in this war are much greater than any other country”.
The sources said the president emphasised the role of ISI in eliminating terrorism and said that criticism against it was regrettable and unfounded. The Nato commander praised Pakistan’s role in the war on terror but urged President Musharraf to provide greater cooperation to combat militancy, an official said.
An official from the President’s Office said Richards “praised Pakistan’s role in the fight against terrorism but suggested that there should be an extended cooperation between Nato and Pakistan” to defeat terrorism. Musharraf assured the Nato chief that Pakistan was “sincerely extending cooperation and support to the coalition forces and Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s government,” the official said.
Meanwhile, in an interview with Geo Television, the British general said Pakistan’s peace deal with militants in the tribal area could set an example for Nato forces. “I think played rightly, with luck and good judgement, I believe ... this could set an example how we should deal with these problems,” Richards said, when asked about the deal in the North Waziristan tribal region.
“It is all about the consent of the people, 70 per cent of the people are waiting to see which side can win ... so you have to work with the grain of expectations. That is essentially what you are doing,” Richards said. “Played right it must be the way ahead.”
The British general said the deal was similar to one between British Nato troops and tribal elders in Afghanistan’s Helmand province. “Just like I am told the arrangements in Waziristan were not a deal with Taliban, they were a deal with local elders principally,” he said.
“The arrangements that have been reached with local elders in parts of northern Helmand reflect the desire on our part to do what the people most want.” Richards said Pakistan had done a lot of work against the fundamentalist Taliban movement but added that it could still do more. “I don’t know of many countries that could possibly be doing more. Could it do more still? Yes we all want to do more because we still have a problem,” he said.
Asked if would quiz Musharraf on the alleged support of Pakistani intelligence for the Taliban, he replied: “That is not the reason for one moment that I came here.”
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ISSN 1563-9479 
