posted September 27, 2006 06:54 PM              

WASHINGTON: Ahead of the Bush-Musharraf-Karzai trilateral meeting, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has slammed his Afghanistan counterpart for "purposely turning a blind eye" to so-called alienation in his country."

"He is not oblivious. He knows everything. But he's purposely denying, turning a blind eye, like an ostrich. He doesn't want to tell the world what is the facts, for his own personal reasons.

"This is what I think.... In the government in Afghanistan, there is a certain community which is feeling alienated. And this community has 50 to 60 per cent representation of Afghanistan. And that is his problem. He has to balance out (ethnic interests). And he is not being able to do that.And, therefore, he is trying to (say) that everything is happening from Pakistan", Musharraf told CNN on Tuesday.

"If he keeps going wrong, I have been telling the world since three months, we are delaying. We are getting late. All this that I read is what is happening in Afghanistan in all the provinces. This is a movement going on. This is a Pashtun uprising by the people going on."

"If he doesn't understand this, he will keep going on, and we are going to lose in Afghanistan" he claimed. Musharraf stressed that Pakistan and Afghanistan should not be compared in the strategies on the war on terror saying that Islamabad is quite capable to conduct operations on its own in the hunt for Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaida leaders and that there are enough weapons at the disposal of Pakistan to see this through. "Sovereignty is a sensitive issue in Pakistan".

posted September 27, 2006 07:01 PM              

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None of Afghanistan's multi-ethnic community of Tajiks, Hazaras, Uzbeks and Pashtuns should be under-represented in its power structure, Musharraf warned, a slap at Karzai's support for regional warlords and armed leaders accused of ignoring needs of ordinary Afghans.

In Washington yesterday, Karzai responded he was not oblivious to the problems of terrorism, and turned his sights on Pakistan, which he earlier accused of creating violence in extremist madrassas.

"We know our problems," he told a news conference with President George W. Bush. "But Afghanistan also knows where the problem is — in extremism. In madrassas preaching hatred. That's what we should do together to stop."

Pakistan's borders are also populated by 3 million Pashtun tribesmen, Musharraf told his council audience. "They are not Taliban" but could join extremist forces if treated as foes.

Musharraf has launched ground and air attacks on border areas to combat Taliban forces fleeing Afghanistan but has been criticized for a recent change of tactic, a peace deal with tribes in North Waziristan, a semi-autonomous region.

"We must separate the people from the Taliban," he said, insisting the peace deal was not made with Taliban members, and would do more to create anti-Taliban sentiments than continued army attacks.

Though critical, Musharraf also said, "I have always been saying that I believe President Karzai to be the right person to be president of Afghanistan."

Karzai said he would "wait and see" if the agreement brings peace to the lawless region. "We'll back any move, any deal, that will deny terror a sanctuary in North Waziristan or in the tribal territories of Pakistan."

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