By Margaret Besheer
United Nations
10 July 2008

Afghanistan and Pakistan are urging each other to do more to stopterrorism, blaming each other for violence in their countries during ameeting of the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday.  From UnitedNation's headquarters in New York, VOA's Margaret Besheer has more.

Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta, 9 Jul 2008

AfghanForeign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta said terrorism has been on therise in his country, as al-Qaida and the Taliban and their backers tryto sabotage the peace process there. He also looked across the borderto Pakistan, saying a truce in tribal areas is also contributing to hiscountry's worsening security situation.  "One of the main factorscontributing to the deterioration of the security situation in thecountry is the de facto truce in the tribal areas beyond the border,"he said.

He said the terrorists are sustained by a complex setof networks and infrastructure that cannot be defeated by militaryoperations inside Afghanistan alone.

But Pakistan's ForeignMinister Shah Mehmood Qureshi brushed aside the possibility of Afghanor other foreign forces entering his country to help eradicate terrornetworks. "Pakistan will not allow its territory to be used againstother countries. However, no foreign troops will be allowed to operateinside Pakistan," he said.

But both diplomats agreed thatterrorist networks constitute a common threat to both their countries,and urged each other to cooperate more to eliminate them, saying peaceand stability are in their vital interests.

Their commentsbefore the Security Council debate on Afghanistan come just two daysafter the latest suicide bombing in Afghanistan - this one outside theIndian embassy in Kabul. The blast killed more than 40 people andinjured scores more. Afghan officials had suggested that Pakistan'sgovernment was involved, a charge Islamabad has denied.