Musharraf pulls out of Afghan anti-terror meet
12 al-Qaeda-linked men killed in Pakistan
Afp, Ap, Islamabad
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf Wednesday cancelled a trip to Afghanistan to attend a key anti-terrorism meeting, citing a previous engagement amid heightened security concerns. On the eve of a high-profile meeting of leaders from volatile regions bordering the two countries, Musharraf telephoned Afghan President Hamid Karzai to tell him that he would not attend, the foreign ministry said. The Pakistani president would send Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in his place, it said in a statement. "The president assured the Afghan president of Pakistan's full support in making the joint peace jirga a success," the statement said. Musharraf's no-show comes despite the fact that the council, or jirga, was brokered by US President George W. Bush in a meeting with the Afghan and Pakistani leaders in Washington last September. "We believe the absence of President Musharraf, who is busy at home, won't effect the jirga," Afghan foreign ministry spokesman Sultan Ahmad Baheen told AFP in Kabul. Despite the official explanation for Musharraf's withdrawal, a senior government source told AFP that security concerns were behind the decision. "The decision has been taken due to security concerns for the president," said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity and declining to elaborate. The jirga, which aims to bring together tribal leaders from the troubled mountain region bordering the two countries -- believed to be a haven for Taliban and al-Qaeda operatives -- has been billed as an opportunity for them to thrash out an anti-terrorism strategy. Both Musharraf and Karzai were due to attend the meeting, although leaders of two of Pakistan's seven tribal regions, restive North and South Waziristan, have already announced a boycott. Violence in Pakistan's tribla region has spiked since the collapse of a peace deal between pro-Taliban militants and government forces deployed there since 2002 to hunt down al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Pakistan's military said Wednesday it killed at least 12 militants in a major raid near the Afghan border using helicopter gunships and mortars in Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan. A local intelligence officer said the hideout was used by al-Qaeda operatives.
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