Agence France-Presse,
KABUL (AFP): Afghanistan and Pakistan pledged Sunday to eliminate terrorist sanctuaries in their respective tribal regions and fight the opium trade financing Islamic militants.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, addressing 700 tribal delegates at the end of a landmark “peace jirga” aimed at defeating the common threat of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, called for an urgent “rescue” from Muslim extremism.
A statement at the close of the four-day tribal council also agreed to push for reconciliation with the “opposition” — a reference to Taliban who agree to accept the rule of law.
Participants pledged they would “not allow sanctuaries/training centres for terrorists in their respective countries,” according to the declaration text.
They acknowledged the “nexus between narcotics and terrorism” and called upon the two governments to wage an “all-out war against this menace.”
They agreed to establish a council, comprising 25 delegates from each country, to promote reconciliation with the “opposition” and cooperation between the neighbours.
Musharraf said both Afghanistan and Pakistan had to get away from what he called the backwardness and violence of Islamic extremism.
“These forces are disrupting peace and harmony, impeding our progress and development,” he said. “We must rescue our societies from this danger and work together until we defeat the forces of extremism and terrorism.”
The Pakistani president conceded that there was support from Pakistani tribal areas for the insurgency in Afghanistan, extremism and “Talibanisation” — the spread of the Taliban's strictly Islamist doctrine.
Pakistan understood it had a “solemn responsibility” to fight against such influences, he said.
Musharraf's presence and speech lent weight to the conference, after he reversed an earlier decision to withdraw from the jirga.
However, tribal leaders from lawless Waziristan on the Pakistan side of the border boycotted the meeting on the grounds that it did not include the Taliban.
Musharraf had been expected to open the talks on Thursday with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, but pulled out at the last minute citing security concerns.
He had reconsidered only after phone calls from US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Karzai, with whom he has bickered over efforts to defeat a resurgence of the Taliban movement backed by Al-Qaeda.
The jirga brought together about 700 tribal leaders, parliamentarians, clerics and other influential figures from both sides of the border to debate ways to root out extremists.
Analysts have said the four days of talks may not immediately do much to stem the growing Islamist violence and the meeting is likely to result in little more than pledges of “brotherliness.”
But it could bode well for longer-term cooperation, they said.
Karzai said at a luncheon Saturday with Pakistani officials that the jirga would cement relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan, a news report said.
“Assembling leaders and public opinion makers from both the countries to discuss and share their views on core issues is a good omen for peace and harmony in the region,” a Pakistan news agency quoted him saying.
Relations between Karzai and Musharraf have in particular been strained over the resurgence of the Taliban, which was driven from government by a US-led coalition in 2001 after having been helped to power by Pakistan in 1996.
In Islamabad, foreign ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam told AFP: “Pakistan is very hopeful that this jirga will contribute to establishing peace in these areas.”
