Afghan President Lashes Out at Pakistan

Afghan President Hamid Karzai delivers a spreech to Western diplomats in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan, Tuesday, Dec 12, 2006. "We've had incidents involving NATO convoys shooting around, in Kabul and Kandahar, especially. This is of serious concern to us," Karzai told reporters. (AP Photo/Allauddin Khan) (Allauddin Khan - AP)

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai has dumped diplomatic talk of "brotherly relations" with Pakistan for rhetorical fireballs blaming the neighboring country for his nation's spiraling militant violence. Analysts said Karzai could trying to wrench U.S. attention from Iraq as more Afghans are killed.

Karzai's verbal barrage against Pakistan started in a tearful speech Sunday, when he said terrorists from across the border are killing Afghan children. He ratcheted up his criticism Tuesday, directly charging the Pakistan government with supporting the Taliban.

On Wednesday he again took direct aim at Afghanistan's eastern neighbor.

"Pakistan hopes to make slaves out of us, but we will not surrender," Karzai said in a school courtyard, in a 90-minute speech punctuated by frequent applause from several hundred schoolboys.

Some analysts say Karzai is venting his frustration in the wake of a wave of suicide attacks and a surge in violence. Afghanistan has seen more than 100 suicide attacks this year, a record number, and close to 4,000 people have died in insurgency-related violence, including some 300 civilians.

A report Monday by the International Crisis Group think tank said a controversial peace pact reached with Islamic militants in Pakistan's North Waziristan province had created a virtual Taliban mini-state where mullahs dispense justice and fighters were launching cross-border attacks into Afghanistan.

"I think President Karzai feels that heat," said Charles Dunbar, a former diplomat who headed the U.S. Embassy in Kabul during the Soviet era. "My sense is that this is a reaction to what is really very, very bad news."

Dunbar suggested Karzai's scathing words could be a cry for attention from the United States.

"The U.S. is laser-focused on Iraq," he said. "This terribly important conflict, and this terribly important pair of relationships with Pakistan and Afghanistan is simply not getting the attention that it deserves."

Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said the Taliban are operating well inside Afghanistan and reiterated that Islamabad is standing up to the problem.

"Pakistan is doing whatever is needed to counter extremism and terrorism and not to allow its territory to be used for militant activities in Afghanistan. We have deployed 80,000 troops. We are taking military action," she said in a statement Wednesday.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan has to do more, Aslam said.