ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Wednesday he will give Pakistan a list of "most-wanted" Taliban to be arrested and tried for crimes against the Afghan people.
During his two-day visit to Pakistan, Karzai had met with President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali. He urged both to work with Afghanistan to curb terrorism and better seal the long, porous border between the nations.
"We have given some names ... but we are coming up with a more specific list of names that we consider to be criminals of war against the Afghan people ... and we want them arrested," Karzai told a small group of foreign journalists in Islamabad before returning to Afghanistan.
Karzai said the suspects have found a safe haven in Pakistan's rugged border regions.
"The problem is effectively curbing terrorism when they cross from one country to another. The proper effective mechanism has to be evolved to do that and we are working on that," Karzai said without elaborating.
Among the former Taliban Karzai wants to see arrested are Akhatar Mohammed Uzmani, a former military commander from southern Kandahar; and Mullah Dadullah, the one-legged Taliban commander believed to have ordered the March 27 killing of Ricardo Munguia, a 39-year-old Red Cross engineer from El Salvador who was shot in Kandahar.
He would also like to find Mullah Brader, a Taliban military commander, and Hafeez Majeed, also of Kandahar.
"It will not just be Afghanistan alone that will get hurt" if the suspects are not nabbed, Karzai said. "Pakistan will also get hurt. Yesterday they were in Afghanistan and created havoc, and today if you allow them to stay in Pakistan they will cause the same havoc here."
But the task is a difficult and complicated one.
A big problem lies in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province on the Afghan border, where an alliance of hardline Islamic parties that sympathizes with the deposed Taliban is in power.
The alliance has openly promised refuge to fleeing Taliban. It has demanded the withdrawal of U.S.-led coalition forces from Afghanistan and an end to Pakistan's assistance in the global war on terrorism.
Karzai had advice for the alliance, called the United Action Forum: "I don't think it is right for any honest Muslim to use religion to exploit political agendas for one's self-interest, and to use religion in a manner that will hurt Muslims only and nobody else."
Karzai said both Musharraf and Jamali have committed to flushing out the Taliban leaders and their allies -- but the test will be in whether that commitment is shared down the chain of command.
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