Pakistan aiding Taleban offensive: Masood

Pakistan aiding Taleban offensive: Masood

ISLAMABAD (Agencies): Afghan opposition military chief Ahmad Shah Masood vowed to fight on despite setbacks and accused Pakistan of backing the Taleban's offensive in an interview published here Wednesday.

"The Taleban with the support of Pakistan and troops of Osama bin Laden have launched the heaviest offensive yet," Masood told The Nation daily.

Masood, interviewed in Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan, also called on the international community to step up efforts for peace in war-torn Afghanistan.

The Taleban Islamic militia's attacks are centered on the northeast of Afghanistan, close to the Tajikistan border. Osama is wanted by the United States for the bombings of two of its embassies in East Africa in 1998, in which 224 people were killed.

"The current resistance in Afghanistan needs the support of the international community to stop the Pakistani intervention," Masood said.

"Once the intervention stops I strongly believe the ground will be restored for the restoration of peace."

Pakistan has always denied giving military support to the Taleban militia, saying it backs the formation of a broad-based government in Afghanistan representing all segments of society.

Masood said he would not retreat into Tajikistan and would hold the present frontline, on the border separating Takhar and Badakhshan provinces.

His aides told The Nation they would counter-attack in the winter when the Islamic militia "are more vulnerable."

Masood urged the Pakistani people to oppose the policy being pursued by the regime of military ruler General Pervez Musharraf in Afghanistan.

"The policy ... is neither in the interest of Pakistan, nor Afghanistan, nor the interests of Islam," he said, warning it would have "bad consequences" for the region.

The Taleban militia has made significant advances since fighting erupted once more in July, capturing several key areas, including Taloqan, a strategic opposition base and capital of Takhar on Sept. 6.

The closeness of the fighting to the Tajikistan border has raised fears that it could spill over into neighboring Central Asian states and destabilize the region.

Russia last week sent a special envoy, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, to Islamabad to meet Musharraf and underline Moscow's concerns.

Moscow has expressed worries that a recent string of Taleban victories in northern Afghanistan could embolden Islamic militants in the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, particularly in Tajikistan, where the pro-Moscow government is under attack by rebels wanting an Islamic state.

Last month Russia asked Pakistan, which is one of only three countries to recognize the Taleban, to use its influence to get five training camps in Afghanistan shut down.

Moscow claimed these camps were being used to train Islamic terrorist to wage war against Russian troops in Tajikistan and in Chechnya, where rebels there want an independent state.

Russia currently has 25,000 troops deployed in Tajikistan on the border with Afghanistan.

The Taleban foreign minister Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil said his impoverished country hasn't the resources or the desire to interfere in the internal affairs of its neighbors.

"It is wrong to blame Afghanistan for the internal problems of the Central Asian states," Muttawakil told a news conference in the Afghan capital on Tuesday.

"The Russian propaganda that the Taleban threatens regional peace and stability surprises us," he said.