Afghan jirga mulls Taleban threat

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Delegates at a key Afghan peace summit have expressed widely differing views on how to curb the threat of the Taleban and al-Qaeda.

An Afghan MP said militants hiding in Pakistan's tribal areas should be thrown out as "uninvited guests".

But a Pakistani delegate said Western troops in Afghanistan should be replaced by an Islamic force.

There are 700 tribal leaders from both countries attending the three-day peace "jirga" in Afghanistan's capital Kabul.

'Uninvited guests'

The BBC's Bilal Sarwary in Kabul says heated debates behind closed doors are expected at the jirga for the next two days among delegates on how to fight the insurgency and ensure security in the region.

"The fact that some terrorists are in the Pakistani tribal belt, no-one can deny that," Afghan MP Sardar Mohammad Rehman Ogholi said at the meeting.

"It is also clear that they are uninvited guests," he said, and added that they should be asked to leave.

<a class="" href="/1/hi/talking_point/6940842.stm">Regional views on jirga</a> "If they did not, Pakistan will grab them by one hand and Afghanistan by the other and we will together throw them away."

Pakistani tribal elder and former MP, Malik Fazel Manaan Mohmand, said removing Western troops should be a jihad similar to the one that forced out the Soviet forces.

"There is no need for the Nato forces. Bring Islamic countries' troops," he said.

Opening the "peace jirga" on Thursday, President Hamid Karzai said Afghanistan must work with Pakistan to defeat Islamic militants.

He told Afghan and Pakistani delegates of their "common destiny".

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, who was to attend, had pulled out citing other commitments.

But Mr Karzai was upbeat. "I am confident, I believe... if both Afghanistan and Pakistan put their hands together, we will eliminate in one day oppression against both nations," he said.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, who came to the meeting instead of President Musharraf, said: "I will be frank - Afghanistan is not yet at peace within itself. The objective of national reconciliation remains elusive."

Afghan officials often accuse Pakistan of harbouring Taleban and al-Qaeda fighters, but Islamabad has strongly denied the charge, pointing out that it has arrested several senior militant leaders and is battling its own Taleban threat in its tribal areas.

However, tribal elders from Waziristan, the Pakistani region from which much of the instability stems, refused to attend.

Supporters of the Taleban have said talks that do not include them could be futile.