By Claudia Parsons UNITED NATIONS, July 9 (Reuters) - Afghanistan and Pakistan urged each other on Wednesday to cooperate more in fighting terrorism, both complaining at the United Nations that violence in their own country was fueled by the situation in the other. Their foreign ministers spoke at a U.N. Security Council meeting two days after a car bomb at the Indian Embassy killed dozens of people in the deadliest attack in Kabul since U.S.-led and Afghan forces overthrew the Taliban in 2001. Pakistan's prime minister earlier called for an end to the blame game and a focus on the war against terrorism, brushing aside allegations of Islamabad's involvement in the bombing. Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi called for confidence-building steps, including not allowing their respective territories to be used against each other and avoiding "provocative statements." "Clearly, we need to do more to overcome suspicion and distrust," Qureshi told the Security Council. Afghan Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta welcomed recent elections in Pakistan that he said showed the people "have said no to terrorism." He said a main factors contributing to a deterioration of Afghan security was a de facto truce in tribal areas beyond the border, a clear reference to Pakistan. The new Pakistani government led by the party of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto began talks with Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, based in the remote tribal region, South Waziristan, through tribal elders after it came to power in March. "Terrorist sanctuaries and an elaborate system of financing, recruiting, arming and systematic training of suicide bombers are at work outside our borders to keep the terrorist threat alive," the Afghan minister said. CROSS-BORDER TENSION A frustrated Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, said on June 15 he might send troops to fight the Taliban in Pakistan. Qureshi said political dialogue was vital to restoring peace to the frontier region and countering extremism. "We are negotiating with tribal leaders and other influentials in these regions; not with the terrorists, nor with those who do not eschew violence," he said. He said Pakistan had lost more soldiers than any other country in the fight against al Qaeda and had taken steps to prevent cross-border infiltration by militants. "The security environment on our side deteriorated sharply as a result of our role in the counter-terrorist campaign," he said. "In 2007, al Qaeda and some Taliban-linked groups turned on Pakistan and its security forces." He said Pakistan was willing to cooperate more but its partners could also do more, by expanding military deployment on the Afghan side of the border, sharing real time intelligence and more closely monitoring legal border traffic. He also called for "caution in the use of artillery and aerial attacks, to avoid accidents or territorial violations." Last month, a U.S. air strike killed 11 Pakistani soldiers at a border post in what Washington said was an accident after U.S. troops on the Afghan side came under attack. U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said he was troubled by a spike in violence in Afghanistan. "We need to present a common front against extremists and terrorists in words and in deeds," he told the council. Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, crucial U.S. allies, have frequently been fraught. Aside from age-old border disputes, Pakistan's military had supported the Taliban militia when it seized control of Afghanistan in the mid-1990s. (Editing by Alan Elsner)
Activists of Samajwadi Party (youth) burn an effigy of what they call "terrorism" during a protest against yesterday's bomb blast near the Indian Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, in the northern Indian ...
