By Sayed Salahuddin
KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan has suspended a series ofmeetings with Pakistan because of what it called the "violentpolicies" of the Pakistani army and intelligence agencies andtheir suspected involvement in a string of attacks.
Pakistan said the accusations were "baseless" and hadcreated an "artificial crisis" that would sour bilateralrelations.
Afghanistan and Pakistan are important U.S. allies buttheir relations, for decades dogged by a dispute over theirborder, have more recently been plagued by Afghan accusationsof Pakistani involvement in violence in Afghanistan.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Monday Pakistaniagents were behind recent violence, including a suicide carbomb attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul last week thatkilled 58 people.
India's national security adviser said last week he had nodoubt Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency wasbehind the attack.
After a cabinet meeting on Monday, Karzai's governmentissued a statement that Afghanistan would maintainpeople-to-people contacts and support the newly electedPakistani government.
"(But) it feels compelled in the face of the violentpolicies of Pakistani army and intelligence agencies, and forthe sake of its national sovereignty, to suspend its bilateraland multilateral meetings," the cabinet said in a statementissued late on Monday.
Afghanistan was pulling out of meetings on bordercooperation and bilateral and regional economic cooperation,all scheduled for coming weeks, it said, adding participationwould be suspended "until a positive spirit of dialogue andunderstanding for mutual trust is restored".
The Pakistani Foreign Ministry issued a rejoinder.
"Pakistan hopes that Afghanistan will do some rethinkingand desist from such provocative statements and initiation ofblame game," the statement said.
SUSPICION
Karzai warned last month he might send troops into Pakistanto fight the Taliban and he told reporters on MondayAfghanistan would soon take revenge for the death anddestruction.
Pakistan backed the Taliban through the 1990s but cutsupport after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the UnitedStates.
More than 1,000 Pakistani soldiers have been killed tryingto dislodge al Qaeda and Taliban fighters from tribal landsbordering Afghanistan. The militants have carried out many bombattacks on Pakistani security forces, including the ISI.
Despite that, Pakistan has never been able to dispelsuspicion that it is at least turning a blind eye to help goingto the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan believes Pakistan helps the Taliban to countergrowing Indian influence, keep the country weak and allowPakistani forces to concentrate on defending the Indian border.
The Afghan cabinet said its expectation that Pakistan's newcivilian government would rein in the security agencies had notmaterialised. It was now up to the Pakistani government to showtheir good faith, Karzai's spokesman said.
"We have all the proof that links the attacks we havementioned to the Pakistani military and its intelligenceagencies," said presidential spokesman Humayun Hamidzada.
"These are not documents and proof we are going to discussin the media, they are going to be available in discussionswith our Pakistani counterparts should they wish to show theirgoodwill and desire to address the questions and problems weface bilaterally, through discussion and mutual cooperation,"he said.
While accusing the ISI of involvement in the embassyattack, India has not escalated its anger to a point thatjeopardises a 4-1/2-year-old peace process with Pakistan.
India stopped a delegation from its Central Bureau ofInvestigation from going to Islamabad for talks due to havebegun on Tuesday with Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency,an Indian official said.
But, the nuclear-armed neighbours were due to begin a newround of peace talks in New Delhi on July 21, and to hold ameeting in Islamabad on July 18 on enhancing transport links.
(Additional reporting by Zeeshan Haider and SimonCameron-Moore in Islamabad and Hamid Shalizi in Kabul)
(Editing by Robert Birsel and David Fogarty)
