ISLAMABAD, 25 August 2004 — Afghan President Hamid Karzai yesterday announced he would free the last 400 Pakistanis who fought alongside the Taleban and had been languishing in decrepit Afghan jails since late 2001.
Karzai’s gesture capped his two-day visit to Afghanistan’s eastern neighbor Pakistan, which in turn ordered the release of 250 Afghans held prisoner for illegal entry. The mutual prisoner releases were announced during Karzai’s talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Chaudhry Shujaat. Pakistan hailed Karzai’s decision as “a breakthrough.”
“President Hamid Karzai has said that all 400 Pakistani prisoners would be returned to Pakistan,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan told reporters.
“I think that’s a very good development.”
The Pakistanis had been arrested for fighting alongside the hard-line Taleban militia against United States-led forces in late 2001. They are the last of some 2,000 Pakistani fighters who were taken prisoner, of an estimated 6,000 who flowed over the border to back up the Taleban.
Ties have been strained between Afghanistan and Pakistan over the use of sanctuaries along Pakistan’s remote northwest border by remnant Taleban fighters.
The insurgents have been waging a deadly guerrilla campaign for over 18 months killing foreign and local aid workers, troops and officials.
President Pervez Musharraf held talks with Karzai on Monday and promised to stop the insurgents, who have vowed to disrupt Afghanistan’s upcoming elections, from using Pakistani territory to launch attacks.
Musharraf estimated earlier in the year that 500 to 600 foreign militant fighters were hiding in the northwest tribal belt.
Afghan officials charge that hundreds of Taleban fighters are operating out of sanctuaries in Pakistan.
“Anybody trying to carry out terrorist activities in Afghanistan or to disrupt the election process...will not be allowed from Pakistan, we will act against them,” Musharraf told official media after talks with Karzai. “The Pakistani army is operating very strongly against Al-Qaeda, we know that they are on the run, they are dispersed and displaced from a number of valleys which were their sanctuaries,” he said referring to a series of bloody army air and ground assaults since January. Pakistani forces “are doing their best to prevent any terrorists operating from Pakistan into Afghanistan.”
Musharraf stressed that the insurgents were also operating from bases inside Afghanistan, saying: “There are people operating within Afghanistan, carrying out terrorist acts.”
As Musharraf spoke with Karzai, his army waged fresh raids on militants near the Afghan border in North Waziristan tribal district. Four foreign fighters were killed and two captured in Monday’s raids, military spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan said.
Army operations to wipe out sanctuaries, hide-outs and training camps used by militant fighters were continuing, Sultan said yesterday. “The activity is going on since the 11th of June and has not halted.”
Meanwhile, President Karzai abruptly cancelled a speech to a state-run think tank in Pakistan yesterday, but officials denied security was a reason. Karzai was due to speak at the city’s Institute of Stategic Studies in the morning. He canceled at the last minute citing “other engagements”.
“President Hamid Karzai’s talk at the Institute of Strategic Studies was called off at the request of Afghan government officials who have cited other engagements of the president as a reason for this request,” said Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan. “There was no security threat.”
