Pakistan, Afghan leaders vow to fight terrorism

ANKARA, Apr 30 (Reuters) Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf and Afghan President Hamid Karzai vowed today to work together to fight terrorism and improve bilateral ties following a war of words over the Taliban insurgency.

For the past year, the United States has pressed for Karzai and Musharraf to cooperate, but the two leaders have continued to trade barbs and relations have remained strained.

''They agreed to deny sanctuary, training and financing to terrorists and to elements involved in subversive and anti-state activities in each other's country and to initiate immediate action on specific intelligence exchanges in this regard,'' the leaders said in a joint statement after meeting in the Turkish capital.

Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan hosted the talks.

Pakistan and Afghanistan have accused each other of not doing enough to stop the Taliban, which has increased attacks on US-led and Afghan forces after the traditional winter lull.

Afghanistan says the Taliban is being run from Pakistan, which Islamabad denies.

Pakistan maintains the roots of the insurgency lie in Afghanistan and the failure of Karzai's government to provide people with security, improve their economic situation and give greater representation for ethnic Pashtuns in government.

It was the first meeting between Musharraf and Karzai since September when they were brought together by US President George W Bush to try to ease tensions.

In an interview with Turkey's NTV, Musharraf said he hoped a new era of relations had begun.

''We've decided to overcome the basic differences together and that this would be useful for both countries,'' he said, adding: ''We've not yet talked about the details.'' ACCUSATIONS Pakistan denies continued formal support for the Taliban, which it helped to power in the 1990s, but the issue of cross-border infiltration has soured ties.

Musharraf accused Karzai in a newspaper interview published last week of being weak on terrorism. Karzai has said the Taliban is getting help from Pakistan.

About 45,000 US and NATO troops are in Afghanistan battling the Taliban, mostly in ethnic Pashtun-dominated provinces on the border with Pakistan.

Pakistan, which is also battling militants, says it is trying to stop infiltration into Afghanistan. It has deployed around 90,000 troops on the border and is fencing parts of the frontier.

Afghanistan opposes the fence because of long-standing disputes over the border.

The leaders also called for concerted efforts to tackle increased poppy cultivation in Afghanistan, noting its role in spreading militancy, drug trafficking and organised crime.

Karzai and Musharraf also pledged to work closely on repatriation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan. Karzai expressed his thanks to Pakistan for hosting millions of Afghan refugees.

The two countries, along with Turkey, a traditional ally of both, will establish a joint working group to monitor progress on the measures agreed in Ankara, the statement said.

Turkey offered to organise further meetings later in 2007 and 2008, the statement said.

REUTERS SS KN1945