Wednesday, September 27 2006 12:27 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: The war of words between two key allies of US President George W. Bush has become more strident on the eve of a dinner with him Wednesday to resolve their growing differences.

After separate meetings with Bush over the last week, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf will join him in the Oval Office to discuss ways to improve their cooperation in fighting a revitalized Taliban insurgency.

Karzai who met Bush Tuesday was a little restrained in the company of his host at the White House, but there was no mistaking his retort to "my brother" Musharraf's suggestion that he needed to get to know the situation in his own country better before talking about the origin of terror threats.

"We know our problems. We have difficulties. But Afghanistan also knows where the problem is -- in extremism, in madrassas preaching hatred, preachers in the name of madrassas preaching hatred. That's what we should do together to stop," he told the media with Bush standing by his side.

He also sounded a bit sceptical about Pakistan's recent deal with tribal leaders in North Waziristan, preferring to adopt a "a wait and see attitude."

"But, generally, we will back any move, any deal that would deny terrorism sanctuary in North Waziristan or in the tribal territories of Pakistan," Karzai said.

Hours later, Musharraf minced no words in telling CNN that Karzai was not totally oblivious of what that was happening in Afghanistan, as he had alleged earlier. He knew everything but was purposely shying away from facts like an ostrich for his own personal reasons.

Asked what those personal reasons were, he suggested that the Karzai government was getting alienated from the people as he had not been able to take the Pakhtoons along with him.

"We are getting late in Afghanistan. A Pakhtoon uprising is going on there," said Musharraf and said he had been warning about it for the last three months.

The Pakistani leader also rejected a suggestion that his Waziristan deal had the blessings of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and had effectively given an amnesty to Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

The deal was aimed at preventing Taliban getting converted into a people's movement, he said, for one must remember that while all Taliban were Pakhtoons, all Pakhtoons were not Taliban. In fact, the deal should be replicated across the border in Afghanistan too, he suggested.

Musharraf also stood by his statement in his just published book that the US invasion of Iraq has made the world a more dangerous place notwithstanding Bush's assertion earlier in the day that those who thought the war in Iraq has worsened terrorism were being naïve.

He again joined issue with President Bush over his plans to send US forces into Pakistan in the hunt for Al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, declaring that "we don't want our sovereignty to be violated."

Pakistan and the US were together in the hunt for bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al Zawahiri and will do whatever is required to deal with the situation when they are found.

He also stood by his assertion that the CIA had paid millions of dollars to Pakistan for handing over Al Qaeda suspects, but clarified the prize money was not paid to his government but distributed to the people and organizations involved.

Asked if he would like to appear again on CNN's "The Situation Room" programme together with Karzai after their Wednesday night dinner at the White House, Musharraf declined saying there must be harmony between the two allies.

But at the moment there was total misunderstanding with Karzai, who found it convenient to throw blame on Pakistan, he said in a parting shot.

So as Bush sits down for dinner Wednesday with Karzai and Musharraf for "an interesting discussion amongst three allies", it will indeed be interesting "to watch the body language of the two leaders" not only for the American president as he put it Tuesday, but for the whole world.

Later invited by CNN to comment on Musharraf's blast against Karzai, Under secretary of State for Political Affairs Nick Burns said the fact is that Afghanistan and Pakistan must work together militarily and diplomatically to fight terrorism.

Asked about his assessment of the Waziristan deal, Burns said they would have to see how it works out. But his advice to Pakistan would be to be resolute in fighting terrorism and use every possible means to go after terrorist cells in that part of Pakistan. As a matter of fact, it needs to work with Afghanistan.

It also needs to work with India to reduce threat from Kashmiri separatist groups many of whom were responsible for terrorist attacks in India. "So this is responsibility that all of us have. It is a major problem in South Asia in resolving which the United States has a direct and abiding interest," he said.