Taliban more dangerous now than al Qaeda - Musharraf

BRUSSELS, Sep 12 (Reuters) Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf today warned the West that Taliban insurgents were a more dangerous terrorist force than al Qaeda because of the broad support they have in Afghanistan.

Five years after the 9/11 attacks on the United States masterminded by al Qaeda and the subsequent US invasion of Afghanistan to topple the Taliban, Musharraf said Taliban fighters had regrouped in southern Afghanistan.

''The centre of gravity of terrorism has shifted from al Qaeda to the Taliban,'' he told EU lawmakers who quizzed Musharraf on Pakistan's counter-terrorism efforts.

''This is a new element, a more dangerous element, because it (the Taliban) has its roots in the people. Al Qaeda didn't have roots in the people,'' he said.

Musharraf said he was certain that the Taliban fighters were being commanded by former Taliban ruler Mullah Omar from a base in southern Afghanistan, where NATO troops are struggling to contain an insurgency.

Musharraf rejected criticism that Pakistan was not doing enough to prevent the Taliban from mounting attacks on NATO troops by infiltrating its porous borders with Afghanistan.

''No one should blame us or doubt us for not doing enough,'' he said, adding that Pakistan had deployed 50,000 troops on its side of the border to tackle militant Islamists.

He urged the international community to do more to rebuild Afghanistan. ''We would encourage faster reconstruction activity in Afghanistan,'' Musharraf said.

REUTERS PKS RAI2044