Thursday, June 16 2005 16:19 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Sydney: Declaring that Pakistan military has "broken the back" of al Qaeda by dismantling its "lateral and vertical linkages", President Pervez Musharraf today (Jun 16, 2005) said a solution to the Kashmir and Palestinian problems would help counter the terror network and resolve regional conflicts.

Musharraf, whose Army is engaged in operations to flush out al Qaeda elements from the tribal regions bordering Afghanistan, said their command structure had been disrupted, hampering the network's ability to act in a coordinated manner.

"We have broken the back of al Qaeda by breaking their lateral and vertical linkages, they are on the run," he told an Asia Society function in Sydney

He said Pakistan believed that along with the action to eliminate and dismantle terrorist cells, there was need to "address the root causes that lie in political disputes and deprivation and poverty that breed extremism."

Urging the West, "especially the US", to help resolve long-standing regional disputes, he suggested a two-pronged strategy to deal with the scourge.

"One prong is the Muslim world rejecting terrorism, the other prong should be executed by the West, especially the United States, resolve all political disputes, the indirect strategy to counter al Qaeda, the indirect strategy to pacify Iraq or Afghanistan is solution of the Palestinian dispute and the Kashmiri dispute, as far as we are concerned."

Musharraf said a "solution of the Palestinian dispute and also the Kashmir issue" would help in countering al-Qaeda and resolving regional conflicts.