Bush, Karzai say they are aligned against Taliban

By Caren Bohan

CAMP DAVID, Maryland (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush and Afghan President Hamid Karzai vowed on Monday to finish off the Taliban, which Karzai said was a defeated force that attacks civilians but is not a threat to his government.

Karzai, visiting the United States amid renewed concern about worsening violence in Afghanistan and the threat from militant hide-outs across the border in Pakistan, said he was building up his army and police with U.S. help.

"Our enemy is still there, defeated but still hiding in the mountains. And our duty is to complete the job, to get them out of their hide-outs in the mountains," he said in the second day of meetings with Bush at the Camp David presidential retreat in the Maryland mountains.

Bush, who has been on the defensive about the failure to find al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, said he was confident U.S. and Pakistani forces would track down the militant group's leaders.

But he stopped short of saying whether the United States would seek Pakistan's permission before going after those militants. The subject is a sensitive issue in Islamabad.

"I'm confident, with real, actionable intelligence, we will get the job done," Bush said.

Bin Laden is believed by U.S. intelligence officials to be hiding in the rugged tribal region of Pakistan, an area near the border of Afghanistan that has been a source of concern to Karzai because it is seen as a hotbed of Taliban activity.

The Taliban, driven from power by a U.S.-led invasion in 2001, are "a force that is acting in cowardice" by attacking schoolchildren, teachers, clergy, engineers and international aid workers, Karzai said.