UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: President Pervez Musharraf says Afghan war cannot be won without Pakistan

President Prevez Musharraf said on Wednesday, (January 24) that the war in Afghanistan could not be won without Pakistan, dismissing as "preposterous" accusations that Pakistani officials were sheltering Taliban leader Mullah Omar. Pakistan, a main U.S. ally in its war on terrorism, has come under increasing pressure from U.S. and Afghan officials to do more to fight insurgents who have stepped up attacks on U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. Ending a Middle East tour that also included Saudi Arabia, Syria and Jordan, Musharraf said Pakistan was doing more than any other nation in fighting "terrorism" and it had lost more than 600 people in the course of fighting. "The fight against terrorism and extremism, whether it is Al Qaeda or Taliban, can never succeed without Pakistan's cooperation and Pakistan is the only country that has delivered the maximum on both," Musharraf told a news conference in Abu Dhabi. U.S. intelligence chief John Negroponte, in a testimony to a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, wrote, without naming bin Laden or his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri, that al Qaeda leaders were holed up in a secure hide-out in Pakistan. The latest charges came last week from Kabul, where Afghan officials released a video recording in which captured Taliban spokesman Mohammad Hanif said that Mullah Omar was living in the Pakistani city Quetta under the protection of ISI intelligence service. He also said former ISI chief Hamid Gul was organising the training of suicide bombers at a religious school in Pakistan. Musharraf mocked the report, saying he personally was ready to take anyone making such accusation in his personal aircraft to capture the Taliban leader. He said the last time Mullah Omar was in Pakistan was at the age of 16 when he was a student at a Pakistani madrasa school. "The trouble lies in Afghanistan and the solution lies in Afghanistan. But there is support going from Pakistan which we know. We are tackling them with 30,000 troops. So let it not be said that Pakistan is not doing enough. If there is anybody who is not doing enough, it is others who are not doing enough'' he said. Musharraf acknowledged that insurgents were getting some support from some people in Pakistan.

ITN Source | January 25, 2007

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