Musharraf 'to join Afghan jirga'

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Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf is expected to attend the final session of a "peace jirga", or tribal council, in neighbouring Afghanistan on Sunday.

Pakistani officials say Gen Musharraf has agreed "in principle" to address 700 tribal leaders from both countries on tackling rising regional militancy.

Correspondents say there was disappointment when he failed to appear at Thursday's opening session.

Bilateral relations have been strained over the resurgence of the Taleban.

Both countries are allies of the US and say that they want to quash terrorism, but many Afghan officials accuse Pakistan of harbouring Taleban and al-Qaeda fighters.

Islamabad has strongly denied the charge, pointing out that it has arrested several senior militant leaders and is battling its own Taleban threat in its tribal areas.

'Common destiny'

Gen Musharraf is expected to hold talks with his Afghan counterpart, Hamid Karzai, in the capital, Kabul, before addressing the jirga.

<a class="" href="/1/hi/talking_point/6940842.stm">Regional views on jirga</a>

"Pakistan is very hopeful that this jirga will contribute to establishing peace in these areas... We believe that stability and peace in Afghanistan is of vital importance to Pakistan," Pakistan foreign ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam told AFP news agency.

Hundreds of delegates from both countries have been discussing the difficult question of the burgeoning insurgency by the Taleban and other rebels on both sides of the border.

However, tribal elders from Waziristan, the Pakistani region from which much of the instability stems, refused to attend the peace summit.

They said that without Taleban representatives present at the talks no solution could be found.

In the past 18 months relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan have deteriorated.

Opening the peace summit on Thursday, Mr Karzai said Afghanistan must work with Pakistan to defeat Islamic militants, telling delegates of their "common destiny".