Afghanistan's patience wears thin

By Andrew North BBC News, Kabul

Pervez Musharraf (L) called Hamid Karzai amid US concern

Mounting alarm in Afghanistan over the continuing violence in the south and east of the country with less than three months to go before parliamentary elections is also leading to rising tensions with its neighbour Pakistan.

By some estimates, at least 400 people have been killed in the past three months in bombings and clashes largely blamed on Taleban insurgents.

But in Afghanistan, many people say the real blame lies with Pakistan, which they accuse of sheltering many of the militants.

Newspapers have been reflecting this in recent days, running angry editorials accusing Pakistan of trying to undermine Afghanistan's stability and progress.

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Such accusations are nothing new of course. A Pakistani hand is often seen in any violence or trouble here.

Unlike in the past though, the Afghan government has also been pointing the finger publicly at its neighbour.

The growing rift is a concern to the US government too, but a difficult one for it to handle with both countries key allies in its war on terrorism.

TV broadcast

Afghan officials admit the past three months of violence, which has seen some of the bloodiest incidents since the overthrow of the Taliban in December 2001, have taken them by surprise.

What we want to see is action now and the arrest of Taleban leaders in Pakistan Jawed Ludin, Afghan presidential spokesman

Along with US military commanders, they had been hoping the insurgency was fading.

But President Hamid Karzai's spokesman, Jawed Ludin, said earlier this week that many of the recent attacks - including a suicide bombing earlier this month in Kandahar which claimed 20 lives - had been carried out by militants who crossed from Pakistan.

"Some senior members of the Taleban, including some who are involved in killings and are considered terrorists, are in Pakistan," he told a news conference.

In later remarks to the Reuters news agency, he went further saying: "What we want to see is action now and the arrest of Taleban leaders in Pakistan," including the man regarded as the movement's main spokesman - Latifullah Hakimi.

Afghan security officials say he is living in the city of Quetta, just across the border from south-eastern Afghanistan.

There was also fury over a Pakistani television channel broadcasting an interview with a senior Taleban commander last week - apparently conducted inside the country.

"If a television channel can find him, why can't the ISI?" asked one Afghan official, referring to Pakistan's intelligence service.

Bush intervention

What prompted this public barrage was the revelation earlier this week of an alleged plot by three Pakistanis to kill outgoing US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad - who has himself been a vocal critic of Islamabad.

Afghan security agents arrested the three Pakistani men last weekend.

Ex-US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad had criticised Pakistan

Officials say all three confessed to their plan and that they were trained on Pakistani soil.

The Pakistani foreign ministry angrily denied any involvement and suggestions that the government was not doing enough to tackle terrorism.

But late on Tuesday, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf rang Mr Karzai in what was seen as an effort to calm the row.

It was a call that may have been instigated by US President George W Bush, who had spoken to Gen Musharraf just before.

A short statement released by the Afghan leader's office afterwards said Gen Musharraf had "assured President Karzai of Pakistan's continued support and co-operation in the fight against terrorism".

But a senior Afghan official with knowledge of the conversation was far less positive, saying there was no sign of a change in Pakistan's policy.

Islamabad had still not abandoned its belief that an unstable Afghanistan was in its interests, the official said.