Pak must not be blamed for Taliban: Musharraf
Rawalpindi (Pakistan), Feb 2: Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said today his country could not be blamed for a resurgent Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan, and said Taliban leaders were not in Pakistan.
Musharraf said the Taliban were an Afghan problem although there was some support going to them from Pakistan and there might have been some instances of Pakistani troops on the border turning a blind eye to that help.
"But suggestions Pakistan's security agencies or military were helping the Taliban were 'preposterous'," he said.
''The resurgence of the Taliban is in Afghanistan but support goes from Pakistan,'' Musharraf told a news conference.
Pressure has been mounting on Pakistan to tackle the Taliban sanctuaries on its side of the lawless border.
A US bill that has been endorsed by the House of Representatives and is being sent to the Congress for consideration calls for an end to US military aid to Pakistan if it fails to stop the Taliban operating from its territory.
The Bush administration is opposed to linking aid to efforts to tackle the Taliban and says Pakistan has demonstrated its commitment to cooperation with US counter-terrorism efforts.
Violence surged in Afghanistan last year to its worst level since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban in 2001. Afghanistan and its allies say the Taliban's strength is partly a result of the safe havens in Pakistan.
Afghan officials also say they believe Taliban leaders are orchestrating the insurgency from Pakistan.
But Musharraf said no Taliban leaders were in his country although he said one of the group's top commanders, Mullah Dadullah, had been in Pakistan, and Pakistani authorities had tried three times to catch him.
''I am 500 per cent sure he is in Afghanistan,'' Musharraf said of the Taliban's fugitive leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar.
Violence in Afghanistan has eased since winter set in but the fighting is expected to pick up in the spring.
REUTERS
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