PM Admits Taliban Uses Territory

Pakistan's prime minister, Shaukat Aziz, acknowledged that the Taliban uses Pakistan as a base from which to mount attacks inside Afghanistan but denied the state was secretly supporting them.

Mr Aziz was addressing more than 600 tribal elders from Pakistan and Afghanistan at the start of a four-day jirga, or tribal council, that hopes to help end the bloody insurgency. The jirga is the brainchild of Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai.

But critics say its effectiveness is stunted by the absence of elders from Waziristan, a major Taliban hub in northern Pakistan, and of President General Pervez Musharraf, who dropped out at the last minute.

Mr Aziz admitted that Pakistan-based militants slip across the porous border but also urged Afghans not to blame Pakistan for all their problems.

"I will be frank - Afghanistan is not yet at peace within itself," he said. "The objective of national reconciliation remains elusive. The Afghans ... cannot blame others for failing to achieve. This lies at the heart of the malaise in Afghanistan."

Accusations that Pakistan is secretly supporting the Taliban were "not true", he added.

Mr Karzai said both countries need to tackle the Taliban together. "Afghanistan is not under fire alone now," he said. "Unfortunately our Pakistani brothers are also under fire, and this fire, day by day, is getting hotter."