ISLAMABAD, 28 June 2006 — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and President Gen. Pervez Musharraf discussed anti-terror cooperation and a wide range of issues during their meeting in Islamabad yesterday.
“Pakistan has agreed to send additional troops to fight Taleban in the border region,” Rice told reporters after meeting Musharraf and Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri.
Rice flew in to Islamabad yesterday afternoon to apparently cool down the rising tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan following Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s suggestion last week in Kabul that the war on terror be extended beyond his country’s border.
While showering praise on Pakistan for its anti-terror efforts since late 2001, Rice underlined the need for greater coordination between Pakistan and US-led international coalition forces in Afghanistan.
“The only thing we desire is to enhance coordination for effectively fighting our common enemy — Taleban and Al-Qaeda,”she stressed.
Speaking on the occasion, Kasuri said that the focus of discussion was on enhancing cooperation and coordination in the anti-terror war. Pakistan, Afghanistan and the US are members of a tripartite commission, which was formed three years ago to coordinate operational details in the anti-terror war and to discuss ways to reinforce cooperation between the three countries in intelligence sharing.
In its last meeting, held in Rawalpindi on June 6, the commission also granted full membership to the NATO and International Assistance Security Force (ISAF), which earlier used to attend its meeting as observers.
Former chief of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, Hamid Gul, told Arab News the regional scenario was changing rapidly and Pakistan’s position on Iran has become a cause of concern for the Bush administration. Secondly resistance from Taleban is growing and this is going to force the Bush administration to review its policy toward Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Rice called President Musharraf and Afghan President Hamid Karzai two leaders the world is lucky to have.
But, Rice added, she expects Musharraf to fulfill his promise to hold democratic elections next year. “There has to be, the world expects there to be, democratic, free and fair elections in Pakistan in 2007,” Rice said, speaking to reporters before meeting the Pakistani president.
“Pakistan has come an enormously long way in a period of four years,” Rice said during a news conference aboard her plane. “We are fortunate there too that you have a leadership that is committed to putting Pakistan on a course toward moderation rather than a course toward extremism.”
