Musharraf said the world is "forging ahead" while Pakistan and Afghanistan are confronted with a "particularly dark form" of terrorism he said is fostered by foreign influences.

He said the Talibanisation of the countries' border regions has prevented Afghanistan and Pakistan from benefiting from globalisation.

"Along with Afghanistan, Pakistan has also witnessed the rise of militancy and violence attacking our society," Musharraf said. "We cannot remain mired in the past."

Musharraf, who spoke both in his native Urdu and in English, was speaking at the closing session of a four-day US-backed cross-border jirga, or tribal council, aimed at finding ways to stem Afghanistan's rising bloodshed.

Musharraf and Afghan President Hamid Karzai walked into the tent hosting the jirga to an extended standing ovation. The Pakistani president pulled out of speaking at the opening session because of domestic issues, instead sending Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.

At the opening session on Thursday, Karzai spoke passionately of the daily suffering the Afghan people endure as the Taliban attack the government, schools, foreign troops and innocent villagers.

He lamented in particular the kidnapping of 23 South Koreans, including 16 women, saying such actions tarnish Afghanistan's image. Twenty-one of the hostages are still alive; two males have been killed.

"It doesn't matter if they kidnap thousands of men, they abducted women!" he said. Referring to other attacks, he said: "They behead women in the name of the Taliban and Muslims in this country. In Helmand, one woman was nailed to a tree. In Zhari, they cut a woman in half. The same thing is happening in provinces near the Pakistan border."

Pak President met his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai in Kabul yesterday before both leaders were due to close a four-day tribal assembly on the growing Taliban and al-Qaeda threat.

Musharraf travelled to the presidential palace immediately after flying into Kabul for a one-day visit, the Afghan president's office said.

The leaders later addressed the "peace jirga" in the west of the city, where tribal leaders were working on a "joint strategy" to root out extremists, a jirga spokesman said earlier Sunday.

The tribal leaders began deliberations on Thursday with the notable absence of Musharraf, who pulled out at the last-minute citing security concerns.

But the Pakistani president reversed his decision after phone calls from US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Karzai,

Delegates to the assembly had earlier split into committees focused on topics such as the reasons for terrorism, the fight against drugs -- said to finance militants -- and good neighbourliness, spokesman Asif Nang said.

The results of these findings were to go towards the formation of the strategy, expected to be announced Sunday before Musharraf and Karzai were to formally close the meeting, he said.

Recommendations are likely to include the establishment of a joint commission to analyse factors fuelling terrorism and another on fighting the drugs trade and organised crime, Afghan media reported Sunday.