Pakistan vows to help Kabul crush Taliban

AFGHANISTAN: Pakistan, criticised by some Afghan leaders over cross-border infiltration by the Taliban, vowed to help its neighbour fight terrorism as Afghanistan battles its worst violence in five years.

After lengthy talks with his Afghan counterpart, Hamid Karzai, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said he was committed to crushing the Taliban, their al Qaeda allies and "Talibanisation", a reference to the spread of hardline Islam.

"The best way to fight this common enemy is to join hands, trust each other and form a common strategy," he told reporters in Kabul, days before the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks that prompted the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan.

The use of Pakistani territory by the Taliban, other militant groups and criminals has soured relations between the two countries. Rebels and criminals can freely cross the rugged mountainous frontier, barely controlled in parts.

Islamabad says it does all it can and struck a deal with pro-Taliban rebels in a tribal region bordering Afghanistan under which the militants agreed to stop raids in both Pakistan and across the border.

"Any militant activity will be addressed with force. No Talibanisation. No Taliban activity on our side of the border and across the border in Afghanistan," Musharraf said.

Karzai welcomed the assurances. "I am very happy today that ... the president of Pakistan assured me that he will try to get rid of this disease from the region," Karzai told a joint news conference at his palace.

Hundreds of Pakistani troops and rebels have been killed in the Waziristan region as the government attempts to push its authority into the semi-autonomous tribal lands on the border.

While the United States and other Afghan allies reject accusations that Pakistan continues to formally support the Taliban, some analysts say moral and other cross-border support from groups with strong ethnic and cultural ties remains.

In Washington, White House spokesman Tony Snow said Islamabad says the Waziristan ceasefire would not undermine the hunt for Osama bin Laden and was aimed at combating extremism.

With the Taliban regrouping, especially in its birthplace of Kandahar province bordering Pakistan, NATO launched its biggest offensive against the guerrillas at the weekend.

NATO says it has killed more than 250 Taliban fighters, but the Taliban says NATO casualty estimates are exaggerated. At least five Canadian soldiers have died in combat in the campaign, Operation Medusa, and 14 British troops were killed when their plane crashed.

KABUL, Thursday, Reuters.