KABUL, July 9 (Xinhuanet) -- The increasing Taliban-led insurgency in Afghan provinces bordering Pakistan would further damage the strained relations between Kabul and Islamabad, as President HamidKarzai rejected Islamabad's claim about the presence of Osama in Afghanistan.

    Karzai on Thursday in a sharp reaction flatly rejected Islamabad's claim, saying "Bin Laden is not in Afghanistan."

    Pakistani Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao told newsmen in Islamabad Tuesday that "al-Qaida chief Osama Bin Laden could be hiding in southern and eastern provinces of Afghanistan where the writ of the government is not so strong."

    Sherpao also told the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) on Monday that Taliban's elusive chief Mullah Mohammad Omar and Osama's deputy al-Zawahir may also be in southeastern Afghanistan.

    The claim infuriated Kabul and Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal in a counter claim said "both the fugitives Omar and Osama are in the Pakistani tribal belt areas close to Afghanistan."

    Fighting back the claim, other senior Afghan officials including Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah and President Karzai's former spokesman Jawed Ludin also stressed that the terror king Bin Laden and his host Mullah Omar were not in Afghanistan.

    Meanwhile, Pakistan's Minister for Information and Media Development Shikh Rashid Ahmad termed Karzai's administration as a "failed government," saying the Afghan government by leveling such charges "try to conceal its massive security failure by urging Pakistan to play a more proactive role in checking cross-border movement of terrorists."

    Trading allegations between Kabul and Islamabad and their leaders' failure to remove the persistent mistrust, Afghan observers say, would undermine relations between the two frontline members of the US-led coalition in the so-called war on terrorism.

    "Enhancing friendly relations between the two sides linked to checking cross-border terrorism and giving up support to terrorists," said Dr. Rangin Dadfar Spanta, a former university professor and advisor to Afghan President on international affairs.

    Relations between the two frontline allies of Washington in the war on terror began destabilizing since mid last month when Taliban militants stormed Kandahar's Mian Nashin district and executed eight government employees.

    The violent and surprising move prompted Afghan leaders including President Hamid Karzai to accuse Pakistan directly or indirectly of supporting Taliban rebels and middling in the internal affairs of Afghanistan.

    Even the Afghan president once claimed that Taliban's elusive chief Mullah Mohammad Omar had been seen in Balouchistan's provincial capital Quetta, a claim rejected by Pakistan as groundless.

    Corroborating the accusations, former Afghan-born US ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad said on June 19 that Taliban's spokesman Mullah Abdul Latif Hakimi has been living in Pakistan.

    The veteran US diplomat who served as President Bush's special envoy to the post-Taliban nation did not rule out either the presence of Taliban and al-Qaida's chiefs in Pakistan by saying both Mullah Omar and Bin Laden are presumably in Pakistan. 

    He made these remarks just days after Pakistan's private television channel the GEO aired an interview of Taliban's senior commander Mullah Akhtar Usmani in which he said that "Both Omar and Osama are alive."

    Substantiating his argument, Khalilzad questioned "how is it possible for a local television to get interview from a senior militants commander like Usmani while security agencies of that country remain unaware of whereabouts of Bin Laden and Omar?"

    Exchanging harsh statements and accusations between Kabul and Islamabad last month has pressed US President George W. Bush to interfere to prevent further escalation between its key allies in the region.

    In attempts to defuse tension, President Bush personally called Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and sought his support in containing militants' infiltration to Afghanistan.

    For his turn, Musharraf in a 50-minute telephone conversation to his Afghan counterpart reassured his government's support to the ongoing war on terrorists and stabilizing efforts to Afghanistan.

    "Sufficient evidence are available to prove foreign hands' support to militants, otherwise 200 or 300 rebels can do nothing," advisor to Karzai Dr. Spanta stressed in a diplomatic tune without mentioning Pakistan's name.

    Taliban-led militancy has been on constant rise since the onset of spring particularly in the south, southeast and east Afghanistan close to Pakistani borders, in which over 400 people including militants, Afghan and US troops as well as civilians have been killed.

    The militants, despite the huge casualties suffered over the past month, have claimed responsibility for killing three pro-government religious leaders and shooting down a US military chopper in eastern Kunar province.

    The political upheaval between the two neighboring countries is getting new dimensions as Afghan private and state-run media begun accusing Islamabad of backing Taliban and middling in the internal affairs of Afghanistan.

    Afghan national television in panel discussion of public opinion aired last week criticized Pakistan's policy vis--vis Afghanistan and accused it of fighting a proxy war through Taliban.

    Daily Anis, a state-run newspaper also in a story published on front page last weekend said that police arrested five Pakistanis from Zabul province last week and all of them confessed to their involvement in terrorist activities.

    A Kabul-based independent daily Arman-e-Millie in its editorial on Saturday blamed Pakistan for creating turmoil in the war-torn Afghanistan, saying "Pakistan exports terrorists to Afghanistan to destabilize this country."

    "By backing Taliban, Pakistan wants to hunt two preys with one arrow. That is, to maintain influence in Afghanistan while getting concession from the United States and recent announcement of the United States to release Pakistani F-16 jet fighters is a proof toit," said Faizullah Jalal, a Kabul University professor.

    However, he said that continued turmoil was not in the interest of either nations and urged the leadership of the two countries to resolve all disputes through dialog.

    "Pakistan should learn lessons from the past that interference cannot serve either side's interests," Jalal stressed. Enditem