Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said on Thursday that Afghanistan must stop blaming his country for the Taliban-led insurgency and rejected claims his government was involved.
"I completely agree that Al-Qaeda and Taliban are doing activities both in Pakistan and Afghanistan," Musharraf told a meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his most senior officials.
"This is not sponsored by Pakistan. The Pakistan government or I or the ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) are not -- I repeat not -- behind anything happening in Afghanistan," he said.
Afghans are suspicious of their neighbour because Pakistan helped to bring the hardline Taliban to power in 1996 and was one of only three nations that recognised the extremist theocracy as a legitimate government.
Many Afghan and some foreign officials say Islamabad is today not doing enough against militants allegedly being trained in Pakistan and sent into Afghanistan to fight, or was doing little to track down the fugitive Taliban and Al-Qaeda leaders in the border zone.
"You blame us for whatever is happening in Afghanistan," said Musharraf, who arrived in Kabul on Wednesday for his first visit since 2002.
"Every bomb blast -- Pakistan is doing it. Every suicide bombing -- Pakistan is going it," he said.
{{/usCountry}}"Every bomb blast -- Pakistan is doing it. Every suicide bombing -- Pakistan is going it," he said.
{{/usCountry}}"What is disturbing is when you think that the government of Pakistan and ISI of Pakistan is doing it. Which means you are telling me that I am doing it.
"If they are doing something on their own, I should leave my job because I am incompetent and useless," he said.
Pakistan has 80,000 troops along the frontier to stop militants from crossing over to carry out attacks and has also arrested some key Al-Qaeda leaders, but Afghan and foreign diplomats have called for more action.