Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Afghan President Hamid Karzai arrived in Ankara Sunday for talks aiming to ease tensions between the two countries in the fight against the Taliban.

Both of the leaders will attend a dinner given in their honor by Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer on Sunday. On Monday, the three leaders will also attend a tripartite meeting under Turkey's auspices, during which confidence-building measures between Pakistan and Afghanistan will be discussed.

Afghan officials accuse Islamabad of failing to prevent Taliban-led militants from attacking Afghanistan from their bases in Pakistan's tribal areas along their common border.

Pakistan denies the charges and says it has deployed 80,000 troops in the tribal areas on the border to hunt foreign militants and curb cross-border movements of fighters.

Tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan escalated last week after the countries' troops exchanged fire when Pakistani soldiers were constructing a protective security fence at the border.

(Xinhua News Agency April 30, 2007)