Afghan's Karzai skeptical of Pakistan tribal deal

WASHINGTON, Sep 26 (Reuters) Afghan President Hamid Karzai today expressed skepticism about Pakistan's plan to suppress a resurgent Taliban as he and President George W Bush prepared for talks with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

Mr Karzai has said Taliban militants carrying out armed attacks inside his country were being sheltered on the Pakistani side of the rugged border, leading to tense relations between two key US allies in the war on terrorism.

Gen Musharraf last week defended a deal Pakistan signed with Islamic militants in Pakistan's border region as a ''holistic approach'' to fighting terrorism that would require them to leave the tribal area of North Waziristan or take up a peaceful life.

Mr Karzai, at a joint news conference with Bush after Oval Office talks, said ''the most important element here is item number one in this agreement: that the terrorists will not be allowed to cross over into Afghanistan to attack the coalition against terror -- that is, the international community and Afghanistan together.'' ''We will have to wait and see if that is going to be implemented exactly the way it is signed,'' he said. ''So, from our side, it's a wait-and-see attitude.'' Mr Bush, Mr Karzai and Gen Musharraf sit down to dinner at the White House on Wednesday for three-way talks aimed at smoothing over ties at a time of the worst violence in Afghanistan since US-led forces ousted the Taliban from power five years ago.

Mr Bush said he did not believe any tensions between Mr Karzai and Gen Musharraf would dampen the effort to find the elusive Osama bin Laden but that he wanted to see the body language between Karzai and Musharraf ''to determine how tense things are.'' He later said he was teasing when he made that remark.

''I'll be good,'' Mr Karzai, wearing his trademark hat and robe, interjected with a smile.

Many of Bush's Democratic opponents blame the president for starting the Iraq war to the detriment of efforts in Afghanistan, which US and allied forces invaded after the September. 11, 2001 attacks to topple the Taliban and its al Qaeda supporters.

Democrats seeking to overturn Republican control of the US Congress charge the Iraq war is a distraction from the original battle against Islamic militants in Afghanistan.

''How do you explain the resurgence of the Taliban and increased attacks more than three years after we invaded?'' the office of Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada asked in an e-mail listing questions for Mr Bush.

Mr Bush sought to assure Karzai that the United States was sticking with him.

''I know there are some in your country who wonder whether or not America has got the will to do the hard work necessary to help you succeed. We have got that will,'' he said.

REUTERS PK RK2330