New era in relations with Kabul promised

PAKISTAN:  President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan promised to write a new chapter in relations with Afghanistan yesterday

PAKISTAN: President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan promised to write a new chapter in relations with Afghanistan yesterday. The general, on his first visit to Kabul since the fall of Islamabad's former Taliban ally,said he would help wipe out regional "terrorist sanctuaries".

Gen Musharraf had talks with Afghan interim cabinet chairman Mr Hamid Karzai before they held a joint press conference, at which the Pakistani leader said his country would never work against the interests of Afghanistan.

"I'm extremely glad that I see Kabul in the hands of a new government which is trying to bring new conditions to Afghanistan, to bring normalcy back into Afghanistan and to bring the general grandeur of this place back to Afghanistan and to Kabul," Gen Musharraf said on his first visit to the Afghan capital since he seized power in a military coup in 1999.

"We will assist him (Mr Karzai) all the way in whatever he wants to do here . . . It is in a total spirit of brotherhood, of brotherliness, that I come here to this country.

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"We will not allow each other's countries to be used against the interests (of one another)."

Gen Musharraf engineered a dramatic reversal in Pakistan's support for the Taliban last year following the Islamist militia's refusal to hand over alleged terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden to the United States.

But many Afghans, especially the armed anti-Taliban factions in Mr Karzai's interim cabinet, have long and deeply bitter memories of Pakistan's military backing for the Taliban.

Gen Musharraf said that Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence agency, which was particularly reviled for its support of the Taliban, would act "in accordance of the government's dictates and the government's desires".

Mr Karzai, for his part, said he was delighted to play host to "a good neighbour, a very nice person, a gentleman and a fine officer and president".

"Pakistan as a neighbour, as a brother has been with us through difficult times.

"Pakistan accepted millions of our refugees . . . Pakistan helped us during the years of the jihad (war against the Soviets) . . . This visit today will I'm sure further promote the brotherly links between the two countries." The leaders said they had held fruitful discussions on the future of the some two million Afghan refugees still living in Pakistan, trade links, the war against drugs and against terrorism.

Mr Karzai said they had discussed "the prevention of sanctuaries of terrorists on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan border", amid persistent reports that Taliban and al-Qaeda extremists are moving between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

But the Afghan leader also revealed that captured Pakistanis who had joined the Taliban but were not deemed to be terrorists could soon be released and sent home.

Gen Musharraf said he was "grieved" to see the destruction wrought on Kabul during the past decade of civil war. Before handing over a previously promised cheque for $10 million, he added that the outlook for future relations was "extremely bright".

Meanwhile, in a development which suggested that Pakistan's co-operation against al-Qaeda was becoming steadily more effective, Washington confirmed yesterday it was confident that a man captured in Pakistan last week was "key terrorist recruiter" Abu Zubaydah and described his arrest as a serious blow to al-Qaeda.

"We believe that one of the individuals captured by Pakistani authorities in recent days is Abu Zubaydah, who is a key terrorist recruiter and operational planner and member of Osama bin Laden's inner circle," White House spokesman Mr Ari Fleischer told reporters.

He said Mr Zubaydah, captured in one of several targeted raids by Pakistani authorities supported by US officers, was in US custody and being treated for gunshot wounds received while trying to escape capture.