The leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan have begun a two-day meeting to talk about co-operating in the fight against insurgents based in the lawless border area between the two countries.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai went to the Pakistani capital of Islamabad on Wednesday to meet Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, shown in September, says it's vital to bring peace to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
(Ed Betz/Associated Press)
"The people in both the countries are suffering," Karzai said. "It is incumbent upon us, the leadership of the two countries, the government, to find ways to bring peace and stability to each home, each family in both countries."
The two countries did not see eye-to-eye about the insurgents in the past, but Pakistan has suffered more than 600 causalities in the past six months. "This has increased the urgency of cross-border co-operation," Islamabad-based reporter Graham Usher told CBC News.
The border, described in U.S. intelligence reports as a terrorist haven, is a stronghold for the Taliban and militants allied to al-Qaeda.
A UN report by terrorism experts working for the Security Council committee monitoring sanctions aimed at the Taliban and al-Qaeda recently painted a grim picture of the "persistent and real" threat from both groups.
The Taliban rebels fighting to regain control of Afghanistan have increased their influence in Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan, and have money from the drug trade to hire foot soldiers and buy sophisticated weapons, the November report said.
The Canadians fighting in Afghanistan are beating the Taliban, but 2007 was the bloodiest year since the mission began. The fighting claimed 29 Canadian lives this year out of the 73 fatalities total since 2002.
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