President Musharraf meets Afghan President in Kabul

Kabul, Sep 6(UNI) The Presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan agreed to give the political agreement in North Waziristan a chance following an extended meeting here today, but their positions on the scourge of terrorism remained widely divergent.

Despite initial talks of cooperation at a joint press conference late this evening, the bonhomie dissolved rapidly as Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf took on questions from a hostile Afghan media which blamed his country for fostering terrorism.

President Musharraf arrived here today on a two-day visit which was preceded by an agreement his government had arrived at with the tribal council of North Waziristan which was signed yesterday.

Under the parameters of the 'peace treaty', the elders of the area have agreed to ensure that there will be no al Qaeda or Taliban activity in their area, no military or training activities, no Taliban activity on the Pakistani side and no activities carried out in Afghanistan from the Pakistani side either.

Any foreigners who remained in the area would have to surrender and live peacefully, the President said.

Though not mentioned by the President, the terms of the agreement reported widely in the press also include cessation of military operations by the Pakistani army, pull back of Pakistani troops, release of prisoners, return of confiscated equipment and removal of surveillance.

Speaking earlier in the day, Afghanistan President Karzai had expressed both hopes and worries about the agreement. While mentioning his worries yet again following his talks with President Musharraf, President Karzai said ''let's give them a chance if they can abide by the promise.'' Providing reasons for the agreement, President Musharraf said it was necessary to try 'out of box' solutions if the old ones did not work. There were three kinds of people in the area - the moderate religious people, the militant Taliban and the third category, the charsi Taliban, who were miscreants and drug peddlers, he said.

The Pakistani approach would be to fight militarily with the Taliban and also fight the state of mind of Taliban. There would be military, development and political components to dealing with the problems in the area, he said.

He ruled out the possibility of NATO troops going into the area, saying no foreigners would ever be allowed into the area which was highly sensitive to the presence of foreigners. The ultimate solution was through political arrangements, he said and military measures only bought time whether in Afghanistan or Pakistan.

Talks had been extremely fruitful and the two leaders had discussed issues including those they were seeing differently. There were no other options but for the two countries to have brotherly relations.

The President, however, grew visibly upset with the hostile questions challenging Pakistani intentions saying there could be no progress if there was no trust. He concluded by saying Pakistan too had misgivings about Afghanistan and that there was extremism on both sides of the border.

UNI XC SHB KP2350