ISLAMABAD, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Tribal elders in Pakistan's Waziristan region said they would not go to Kabul on Thursday for a grand assembly aimed at building confidence between Pakistan and Afghanistan and dampening support for the Taliban. During the four-day grand assembly, or jirga, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf are due to address clerics, politicians, writers and tribal chiefs from the ethnic Pashtun lands that straddle the border. The assembly will take place almost 11 months after Musharraf and Karzai agreed to this joint approach in Washington, in an effort to mend deteriorating relations between two crucial U.S. allies. When he was in Washington last September, Musharraf also got President George W. Bush's backing for a peace deal between his government and militants in North Waziristan, a region regarded as a hotbed of support for the Taliban and al Qaeda. That pact fell apart last month, and the United States expects Pakistan's military to strike at militant targets in Waziristan. Mamoor Khan, chief of North Waziristan's Wazir Toorikhel tribe said the absence of Taliban representatives rendered the jirga pointless. "It has been decided that we'll not attend that jirga," he said. "If Taliban aren't considered as a party then whom should we talk to. Disputes and problems are always settled among opponent groups." Tribal leaders also want Pakistan to withdraw troops from checkposts in North Waziristan, as condition for participation in the assembly. "How can we go there and talk about peace while our own home is burning? There is unrest and a military operation going on," Senator Saleh Shah Qureshi, from South Waziristan, said. Afghanistan's Taliban rejected the assembly as a "waste of time and money" that would achieve nothing. "The U.S. just wants to seek public support for its illegal and inhuman actions through this jirga," said Taliban spokesman Zaibullah Mujahid. Seven hundred elders from both countries are due to attend the jirga. A similar gathering will be held in Pakistan, but no date has been set yet. A Taliban resurgence in the last two years led to accusations by Afghan officials that the insurgents were organising and launching attacks from the safety of sanctuaries on Pakistani soil. Pakistan denies the allegations. (Additional reporting by Saeed Ali Achakzai in CHAMAN)
