Taliban deny Pakistan aid

Reuters/NY Times:

The Taliban on Saturday denied accusations by Afghan leaders the group was being sponsored by Pakistan, an issue souring relations between the two nations.

A senior rebel commander, Hayat Khan, said Afghan President Hamid Karzai was trying to hide his own failure and the Taliban movement lived only on the support of ordinary people.

``Karzai's allegations are baseless. We neither have any links with Pakistan nor is the country helping the Taliban,'' Khan told Reuters by satellite phone from a secret location.

``The Taliban movement is continuing only with the support of the Afghan people."

...

The hardline Islamists have regrouped since their ouster in 2001, helped by safe havens and militant allies in Pakistan and money from the booming illegal opium industry.

...

Pakistan denies it supports the insurgents but acknowledges some militants are crossing the rugged, porous border. President Pervez Musharraf also said recently some retired security officers might be helping the militants.

But in talks with a European Union official in Islamabad on Friday, Musharraf repeated Pakistan's position that ``the militancy problem was essentially an Afghan problem.''

``Pakistan is committed to not allow its territory to be used by militants and had done all within its means to deal with this issue,'' the Pakistan Foreign Ministry cited Musharraf as telling the EU's Afghan representative, Francesc Vendrell.

...
The Taliban and Musharraf are both blowing smoke. While the Taliban may not be sponsored by the Pakistan ISI anymore, they clearly have sanctuaries in Pakistan and clearly Pakistan is not done all within its means to deal with this issue. Even if Pakistan had exhausted its means for dealing with the sanctuaries, it could still invite NATO and the US to help it destroy teh sanctuaries rather than cut bogus deals that neither side expects to be honored by the Taliban or those who give them sanctuary. The dishonesty of these deals is something that the US needs to confront Pakistan about most ricki-tick.

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