'Al-Qaeda or Taliban, we will fight together' Tuesday, August 24 2004 16:55 Hrs (IST)
Islamabad:
President Pervez Musharraf and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai last night (Aug 23, 2004) vowed to enhance their capability to fight terrorism, while Musharraf assured the Afghan leader that Pakistan would not allow its territory to be used by Taliban to destabilise Afghanistan.
Addressing a joint press conference after an hour-long one-to-one meeting followed by delegation level talks, Musharraf and Karzai expressed a common commitment to stamp out terrorism and to strengthen the capability and cooperation in the field of intelligence and the forces on the ground.
President Musharraf held out a categorical assurance to the visiting Afghan leader that Pakistan would not allow anybody to use its territory for actions against the interest of Afghanistan.
"Be that of al-Qaeda or Taliban, we have decided to fight jointly," he said.
"Anybody trying to carry out terrorist activities in Afghanistan or to disrupt election process or to create law and order problems will not be allowed from Pakistan - we will act against them," Musharraf said.
For his part, Karzai assured Islamabad that no anti-Pakistani activity would be allowed from Afghan soil.