Pakistan says arrests 500 Taliban this year

ISLAMABAD, Dec 14: Authorities in Pakistan have arrested more than 500 Taliban militants this year and handed many over to Afghanistan as part of efforts to boost cooperation, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said.

Relations between the neighbours, both major US allies in the war on terrorism, have deteriorated sharply this year over Afghan accusations the Taliban operate from sanctuaries in Pakistan.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, whose government has been struggling with the most intense phase of Taliban violence since the hardline Islamists were ousted in 2001, levelled fresh accusations against Pakistan this week.

The Pakistani Foreign Ministry said in paper released on Thursday that Pakistan was committed to Afghanistan's stability and the upsurge in militant violence in Afghanistan called for increased security cooperation.

''Pakistan has arrested over 500 Taliban this year from Quetta and other cities,'' the ministry said in the paper, referring to a southwestern Pakistani city from where, Afghanistan says, Taliban leaders plot their insurgency.

Pakistan was once the Taliban's main sponsor but officially dropped support for the group after the September 11 attacks on the United States.

Pakistan denies it supports the insurgents but acknowledges some militants are crossing the rugged, porous border.

President Pervez Musharraf also said recently some retired security officers might be helping the militants.

But Pakistan says the root of the Taliban problem is in Afghanistan.

The Foreign Ministry said efforts were underway to boost intelligence sharing with Afghanistan and foreign forces there to meet the ''common threat from terrorists''.

More than 40,000 foreign troops under separate NATO and US commands are in Afghanistan trying to ensure sufficient security for development to get going.

About 4,000 people have been killed in Afghan violence this year, most in areas near the Pakistani border.

Pakistan has also been battling militants allied with the Taliban and al Qaeda on its side of the border but recently struck a controversial peace deal in the North Waziristan area.

The International Crisis Group think-tank said this week the deal in North Waziristan, and a similar one struck in South Waziristan in 2004, had led to more attacks in Afghanistan and allowed the militants to expand their influence.

The government has defended the pacts saying they were struck with tribal elders, not militants, and are aimed at reinvigorating traditional tribal power structures and isolating the militants.

REUTERS