Terror talk

Kabul

In a rare admission, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf acknowledged this week that Taliban and al Qaida militants have been operating from bases in Pakistani tribal areas. “There is support from these areas to Taliban activity inside Afghanistan,” Musharraf said. “There is no doubt Afghan militants are supported from Pakistani soil.” That candid acknowledgement came during a four-day loya jirga, or tribal council, held last weekend in Afghanistan. The 700 tribal and political leaders from Afghanistan and Pakistan were supposed to discuss how to stop insurgents from moving between the two countries. But because there were no representatives of Pakistan’s tribal area of North Waziristan—the scene of the fighting between Pakistani security forces and insurgents—the council could achieve little.

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