Afghanistan Rocked As 105 Die in Violence

Afghan President Hamid Karzai arrives in a U.S. military Black Hawk helicopter in Konar province on a day violence surged in his country. (By Pamela Constable -- The Washington Post)

U.S. military officials, who work closely with both the Afghan and Pakistani armed forces, say they believe Musharraf shares their concerns about regional terrorism and does not seek to destabilize Afghanistan. But it is not clear, they say, to what extent he can control powerful groups in his country that still support the Taliban or harbor a lingering ambition to dominate Afghanistan.

For those people, Karzai had harsh words Thursday, vowing that Afghanistan "will never become a colony of any country," and excoriating groups that use religion as an excuse to attack their neighbors.

Konar, which stretches alongside the Pakistani tribal region, has come under persistent attacks, including a rocket assault that killed seven children at a school in Asadabad in April. Since March, Afghan and U.S. forces have staged a massive sweep of troubled districts in Operation Mountain Lion.

Karzai, who rarely travels to remote provinces because of security concerns, arrived here from Kabul on one of a formation of U.S. military helicopters.

The president's vehement remarks about Pakistan were repeatedly applauded by provincial leaders, and in welcoming poems and songs young Afghans exhorted him to be tough on "our neighbor enemies."

Questions Karzai received here underlined why it has been difficult to uproot the revived Islamic insurgency even with thousands of foreign troops aiding the new Afghan army and police.

Several local leaders asked the president to help win the freedom of Konar tribal and religious figures held in U.S. military prisons as suspected insurgents. Others pleaded with him to build more Islamic schools in their province, a higher priority for many families than roads or clinics.

In a brief interview after his speech, Karzai said he had not given up on Musharraf and recognized his strategic importance to the U.S.-led anti-terrorist effort. But the Afghan president said he had come under a lot of domestic pressure to get tough with Pakistan.

"People see that nothing has changed and they are very angry," he said. "They want me to stop talking nicely and do something."