Afghanistan and Pakistan are urging each other to do more to stop
terrorism, blaming each other for violence in their countries during a
meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday. From United
Nation's headquarters in New York, VOA's Margaret Besheer has more.
Afghan
Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta said terrorism has been on the
rise in his country, as al-Qaida and the Taliban and their backers try
to sabotage the peace process there. He also looked across the border
to Pakistan, saying a truce in tribal areas is also contributing to his
country's worsening security situation. "One of the main factors
contributing to the deterioration of the security situation in the
country is the de facto truce in the tribal areas beyond the border,"
he said.
He said the terrorists are sustained by a complex set
of networks and infrastructure that cannot be defeated by military
operations inside Afghanistan alone.
But Pakistan's Foreign
Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi brushed aside the possibility of Afghan
or other foreign forces entering his country to help eradicate terror
networks. "Pakistan will not allow its territory to be used against
other countries. However, no foreign troops will be allowed to operate
inside Pakistan," he said.
But both diplomats agreed that
terrorist networks constitute a common threat to both their countries,
and urged each other to cooperate more to eliminate them, saying peace
and stability are in their vital interests.
Their comments
before the Security Council debate on Afghanistan come just two days
after the latest suicide bombing in Afghanistan - this one outside the
Indian embassy in Kabul. The blast killed more than 40 people and
injured scores more. Afghan officials had suggested that Pakistan's
government was involved, a charge Islamabad has denied.
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