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| Wednesday, 25 August 2004 |
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Pakistan won't let militants disrupt Afghan poll ISLAMABAD, Tuesday (Reuters) Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf promised visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai that Pakistan would not allow Islamic militants to use Pakistani soil to disrupt Afghanistan's October elections. Speaking following talks with Karzai and after the Pakistani military said it had killed four foreign militants in an area bordering Afghanistan, Musharraf said the army was operating very strongly against al Qaeda and the militants were on the run. He said there was a possibility they were crossing into Afghanistan, but no one should doubt Pakistan's intentions and that of its security agencies. "They are doing their best to prevent any terrorists operating from Pakistan into Afghanistan," he was quoted by the official APP news agency as saying. "Anybody trying to carry out terrorist activities in Afghanistan, or to disrupt the election process, or to create law and order problems, will not be allowed from Pakistan - we will act against them." Karzai, in Islamabad until Tuesday, told reporters he and Musharraf had spoken in a "very frank and clear atmosphere". "We have decided that for the good of the two countries, for the economic welfare of the two countries, to fight against terrorism and to fight together," he said. But while Washington and Kabul have praised Pakistani efforts against al Qaeda suspects, they say Taliban militants who have vowed to disrupt the elections have continued to find sanctuary in Pakistan and to launch attacks from across the border. A Pakistani provincial official said the four foreigners killed in the the semi-autonomous North Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan were Uzbeks thought to have been among a large group of al Qaeda-linked militants the military has pursued since March in neighbouring South Waziristan. He said one Uzbek and a Pakistani were also captured in the raid near the town of Miranshah, which coincided with a big assault on the other side of the border by U.S. helicopter gunships and hundreds of Afghan and U.S.-led troops. |
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