Pakistan needs to do more on Taliban, UN says

KABUL, Jan 8 (Reuters) Pakistan needs to take more action against leaders of Afghanistan's Taliban insurgents as required by a UN Security Council resolution, a UN official said today.

Pakistan and Afghanistan should also end a war of words, which erupted a year ago over Afghan accusations of Pakistani sanctuaries for a resurgent Taliban, the official said.

Chris Alexander, a deputy UN representative in Afghanistan, said UN resolution 1267 required all states to freeze the assets of people on a list of terrorists established by the resolution.

States are also required to prevent the entry or transit of people on the list and prevent the transfer of arms to them.

''Resolution 1267, as it relates to the Taliban leadership is not, so far, being implemented,'' Alexander told a news conference in the Afghan capital.

''Of the 142 Taliban leaders on the list, only a handful have been captured, or reconciled, or their whereabouts otherwise established,'' Alexander said.

Pakistan, the main backer of the Taliban before the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, denies that any Taliban leaders are on its territory.

It also denies helping the Taliban but says some militants are crossing the porous border into Afghanistan. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said last year some former security men might be helping the militants.

''The truth is that these networks are operating in both Afghanistan and in Pakistan, that the leaders spend time in both countries, and that law enforcement and even military action is required wherever they are located,'' Alexander said.

Pakistan had repeatedly assured Afghanistan it would take action against the militants, Alexander said.

''We are all counting on them to be true to that statement of intent,'' he said.

''But in our view, there is more work to be done in and around Quetta and elsewhere,'' he said, referring to the southwestern Pakistani city where Afghanistan and some of its allies say Taliban leaders orchestrate the insurgency.

''POINTING FINGERS'' Last year was the bloodiest in Afghanistan since 2001.

An increasingly frustrated Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, levelled his strongest-ever criticism at Pakistan last month, for the first time openly accusing state elements of supporting the insurgents.

Pakistan says the root of the Taliban problem is in Afghanistan where a weak government has failed to tackle corruption.

Pakistan also says Afghanistan risks a ''people's war'' among ethnic Pashtuns, the community from which the Taliban have traditionally drawn support, because Pashtuns feel alienated by other factions that helped US forces oust the Taliban in 2001.

Alexander called for an end to the accusations.

''This war of words, this rhetorical contest between two governments, two partners in this region, must end.'' ''Pointing fingers leads nowhere when what we really need, what Afghans most need, is constructive engagement and joint action to tackle a very serious security challenge.'' Afghanistan also had to do more to tackle the insurgency, including strengthening its security forces and improving governance, he said.

REUTERS AB BD2003