Musharraf faces new questions over Taliban

· Pakistani president to meet British commander
· Reports claim intelligence agency helps militants

Declan Walsh in Islamabad
Monday October 9, 2006
The Guardian

Pakistan's role in the fight against the Taliban will come under renewed scrutiny today at a meeting in Islamabad between a top British commander and Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf.

General David Richards, who commands 33,000 Nato troops in Afghanistan, says the meeting is routine. But it follows a string of accusations, some from within Nato, that Pakistan has failed to close down Taliban sanctuaries in the northern tribal belt, and that elements within its Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) agency may be assisting the insurgency. Nato said yesterday that the Taliban had launched 78 suicide attacks this year across Afghanistan, killing close to 200 people.