Algiers, July 18: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said during a visit to Algeria that the two nations were important to the global fight against terrorism and pledged to continue the effort. Musharraf's visit was aimed at reviving a decade of stagnant ties linked to Pakistan's alleged role as a training ground for thousands of Algerian Islamic extremists who then came home to join a bloody insurgency.


The President said that he and his Algerian counterpart, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, had converging points of view on "all the current questions."

Both Musharraf and Bouteflika have been trying to dispel their nations' images as hotbeds of fundamentalism. Musharraf told a news conference: "Algeria and Pakistan, two countries that have been victims of terrorism, have become important members of the world anti-terrorism coalition."

The Pakistani leader claimed his country was responsible for the arrest of more than 500 Islamic militants, members of the al-Qaida terrorist network or sympathizers of Afghanistan's deposed Taliban regime.

"We intend to pursue the fight against terrorism, which is a stabilising factor that our country greatly needs," Musharraf said before departing for morocco, the last step on a North Africa tour.

Thousands of Algerians went to training camps for militants in Peshawar in the early 1990s, learning fighting and bomb-making techniques.

During the visit, the countries also reached agreements on political, economic, cultural and commercial exchange.

Bureau Report