Pakistan President Defends Cease-Fire

Afghan national Habibullah feeds his injured brother Rehmatullah who was injured by NATO forces bombing at a local hospital in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2006. About 1,500 Afghan families have been displaced by the bitter fighting in southern Kandahar province, a tribal elder said, amid renewed clashes between NATO forces and Taliban fighters and reports of more militant casualties. (AP Photo/Allah Uddin) (Allah Uddin - AP)

KABUL, Afghanistan -- At a key summit Wednesday of U.S. allies fighting al-Qaida, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf defended a cease-fire with militants in a tribal region bordering Afghanistan. Afghan President Hamid Karzai gave cautious approval, saying he'll wait to see if the deal works.

Musharraf and Karzai, whose relationship plummeted this year amid accusations that Pakistan was not doing enough to crack down on militants crossing into Afghanistan, moved to mend ties Wednesday when they urged joint action to fight the "common enemy" of terrorism and extremism fanned by al-Qaida and the Taliban.

Both leaders are grappling with Islamic militancy. Pakistan has won Western approval for attacking al-Qaida sanctuaries in its tribal regions since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the U.S., but fears the continued use of military force will only stir more Islamic fundamentalism of the kind that troubles its war-ravaged neighbor.

Musharraf ruled out allowing NATO and U.S. forces to cross onto the Pakistani side of the frontier, saying that would ignite a popular uprising. He also insisted he would not let his country become a sanctuary for terrorists and rejected allegations that his government was hiding al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri, believed to be at large along the Pakistan-Afghan border.

"The key obstacle in the area ... is the scourge of terrorism and extremism," Musharraf said. "This is the scourge that we have to fight."

The meeting in Kabul comes as Afghanistan faces its deadliest surge of violence _ particularly in the south near the Pakistani border _ since the U.S.-led invasion five years ago that toppled the Taliban regime for harboring bin Laden and his lieutenants.

Pakistani troops have been fighting pro-Taliban militants and foreign fighters in the semiautonomous North Waziristan tribal region since the U.S. went to war in Afghanistan. The conflict has killed hundreds of soldiers, militants and civilians and enraged tribespeople opposed to military interference in the region.

In Kabul, Musharraf outlined Tuesday's peace deal that ended the conflict. The accord demands that soldiers leave outposts in the region and allows militants to move freely so long as they don't take up arms.

The Pakistani president warned, however, that he would not allow the area to become a terrorist sanctuary. "Any militant activity will be addressed with force," he said.

Musharraf said the truce involves a "bottom line" banning al-Qaida violence, terror training camps and foreign fighters operating in the area.

Karzai welcomed the cease-fire as a "positive step," but said Afghanistan would wait to see if it proves effective.

"Let's wait. If it works well, we are happy. If it doesn't work, we'll find another way."