|
Musharraf
Pledges Support to Kabul
 |
| Karzai,
left, shakes hands with Musharraf following their Tuesday news
conference |
KABUL,
April 2 (News Agencies) – On his first visit to Afghanistan since
the fall of Islamabad's former Taliban ally, Pakistani President
Pervez Musharraf pledged Tuesday to support his neighboring war-torn
country.
Speaking
alongside interim Afghan leader Hamid Karzai at a news conference in
Kabul Tuesday, April 2, General Musharraf said: "We will not
allow each other's countries to be used against the interests [of one
another]."
He
also pledged to co-operate with Afghanistan's new administration in
wiping out "terrorist sanctuaries" in the region.
General
Musharraf said that he had "made it absolutely clear Pakistan has
only one aim - to assist Afghanistan," BBC’s online news
service reported.
Musharraf
had arrived in the Afghan capital Tuesday, April 2, in a Pakistani
military plane and drove away from Kabul international airport in a
blacked-out Mercedes amid one of the tightest security operations the
capital has seen since the Taliban regime collapsed last November.
Armed
guards were stationed at 50 meter (165 feet) intervals along Maidan
Road leading from the airport to the center of town.
The
two leaders met earlier this year when Karzai made a brief trip to
Islamabad, and pledged to rebuild bilateral relations between the
neighboring Islamic states in the wake of the Taliban's ouster.
He
met Karzai amid tight security and is expected to return to Islamabad
later on Tuesday.
The
meeting marks a watershed for relations between the two countries.
Pakistan
had originally been one of the few supporters of Afghanistan's now
ousted Taliban regime, developing close links through its intelligence
services.
However,
last year General Musharraf decided to back the American-led war on
terror following the 11 September attacks.
General
Musharraf has consistently reassured Afghanistan's new interim
government that it has his full backing in rebuilding the country.
He
has said that Pakistan is extremely interested in a stable, peaceful,
united Afghanistan as a brotherly neighbor.
In
a visit to Islamabad in February this year, Karzai told journalists
that Afghanistan's suspicion of Pakistan caused by its previous
support for the Taliban was a thing of the past.
Karzai
also said that Afghanistan would release young Pakistanis captured
while fighting for the Taliban regime if they had no involvement with
terrorism.
Pakistan
has since pledged $100m for the reconstruction of Afghanistan and is
keen to have a role in development work there.
Pakistan
also wants to encourage the repatriation of nearly two million Afghan
refugees who have been living in the country for the past two decades. 
|
