Musharraf, Karzai meet in Afghanistan

The leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan held talks in Kabul yesterday focussed on the deadly Taliban insurgency, amid calls for Islamabad to do more against fundamentalist militants based along the border.

Pakistani Pervez Musharraf kicked off a landmark two-day visit to the Afghan capital with a meeting with his counterpart at the heavily secured presidential palace after a formal welcome ceremony.

He and Afghan President Hamid Karzai were to have "frank discussions on the war on terror and expanding bilateral cooperation on regional issues," Karzai's office said ahead of the visit.

"They will exchange views on bilateral relations, economic cooperation, reconstruction activities in Afghanistan and cooperation in the fight against terrorism," Pakistan foreign office spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said.

A key point of discussion was likely to be a "peace deal" that the Pakistan government signed on Tuesday with pro-Taliban militants in its North Waziristan tribal belt along the Afghan border.

The government accepted demands to remove pickets set up by the military in the area, while the militants agreed to disarm or expel foreign al-Qaeda-linked fighters.

The move, the details of which have not been made clear, has raised concern in Afghanistan.

The militants' pledge to act against foreign fighters could be "meaningless," said one Western diplomat, who questioned the timing of the announcement, just before Musharraf's visit.

"The key concern is whether the agreement is going to lead to more insurgents going to and fro across the border or less," another diplomat said.

Pakistan 80,000 troops along the frontier to stop militants from crossing over to carry out attacks and has also arrested some key al-Qaeda leaders.

But madrassa-inspired insurgents are still able to enter Afghanistan, with Afghan and some foreign officials alleging that Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders based in Pakistan are training the militants and sending them over.

In the latest attack, a suicide bomber killed a headmaster and a low-ranking government official yesterday in Khost Province on the border with Pakistan.

Such suicide blasts, frequently claimed by the Taliban, are a regular occurrence.

The Islamic neighbors had a heated exchange earlier in the year after Musharraf dismissed Afghan intelligence about Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders allegedly living in Pakistan as "nonsense."

Many Afghans are still suspicious of their neighbor because it helped to bring the Taliban to power in 1996 and was one of only three nations that recognized the extremist theocracy as a legitimate government.

Musharraf, who was last in Afghanistan in 2002, visited as the leadership of NATO was also in the country to assess the work of its International Security Assistance Force engaged in fierce fighting with Taliban in the south.

NATO General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said late on Tuesday that the alliance was determined to beat the Taliban, although this would have to be done through development as well as military means.

"Not winning means Afghanistan becoming a failed state ... and a breeding and training ground for terrorism," he said.

The alliance signed a declaration with Karzai yesterday pledging its long-term commitment to Afghanistan, which fears being abandoned by the international community.

Musharraf heading a 27-member delegation, including several cabinet members -- among them ministers for foreign and religious affairs and the petroleum sector, and the head of Pakistan's intelligence agency.

He is scheduled to address Cabinet members, parliamentarians and other policymakers before leaving Afghanistan today.

Musharraf Karzai are due to meet again with US President George W. Bush on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly later this month.