Afghanistan & Pakistan are at each others throats over Osama...fascinating

[Gloria]

From the new World Media Watch up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical
Tomorrow at Buzzflash.com


2//Xinhua Online, China 2005-07-09 23:08:31

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-07/09/content_3198451.htm



CONTINUING MILITANCY IN BORDER AREAS TO UNDERMINE KABUL-ISLAMABAD RELATIONS



KABUL, July 9 (Xinhuanet) -- The increasing Taliban-led insurgency in Afghan provinces bordering Pakistan would further damage the strained relations between Kabul and Islamabad, as President Hamid Karzai rejected Islamabad's claim about the presence of Osama in Afghanistan.

Karzai on Thursday in a sharp reaction flatly rejected Islamabad's claim, saying "Bin Laden is not in Afghanistan."


Pakistani Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao told newsmen in Islamabad Tuesday that "al-Qaida chief Osama Bin Laden could be hiding in southern and eastern provinces of Afghanistan where the writ of the government is not so strong."



Sherpao also told the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) on Monday that Taliban's elusive chief Mullah Mohammad Omar and Osama's deputy al-Zawahir may also be in southeastern Afghanistan.



The claim infuriated Kabul and Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal in a counter claim said "both the fugitives Omar and Osama are in the Pakistani tribal belt areas close to Afghanistan."



(SNIP)



Meanwhile, Pakistan's Minister for Information and Media Development Shikh Rashid Ahmad termed Karzai's administration as a "failed government," saying the Afghan government by leveling such charges "try to conceal its massive security failure by urging Pakistan to play a more proactive role in checking cross-border movement of terrorists."



Trading allegations between Kabul and Islamabad and their leaders' failure to remove the persistent mistrust, Afghan observers say, would undermine relations between the two frontline members of the US-led coalition in the so-called war on terrorism.

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[Catfight]

1. Can you say pipeline? nt