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Afghanistan's leader, Hamid Karzai, dismissed the Taliban as "defeated" yesterday, saying the doctrinaire Islamic insurgency poses no threat to his government and has been reduced to terrorizing ordinary Afghans.

Despite the insurgency still raging across much of southern Afghanistan and the more than 40,000 foreign troops currently waging war against them, President Karzai said the Taliban is "a force that's defeated. It's a force that is frustrated. It's a force that is acting in cowardice by killing children going to school."

Standing with Mr. Karzai, President George W. Bush said at a news conference that the United States and Pakistan have the capacity to scout out and kill al-Qaeda leaders. But he avoided saying whether he would ask Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf before sending U.S. troops into that country.

Afghan officials and generals accuse Pakistan of harbouring, or at least turning a blind eye to, Taliban militants who enter Afghanistan from remote villages along the Pakistan side of the border.

In Islamabad yesterday, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Tasnim Aslam, said there are no al-Qaeda or Taliban safe havens in its territory, the Associated Press reported. "Our position is that if there are any terrorist elements hiding in our tribal areas, it is for the security forces of Pakistan to take action against these elements," he said.

Despite the general air of accord between the two leaders, Mr. Karzai and Mr. Bush broke sharply on Iran's influence there. One day after Mr. Karzai called the Islamic republic a supporter in the fight against terrorism, Mr. Bush vowed to continue efforts to isolate Iran over its nuclear program.

More than 100 foreign soldiers, including 22 Canadians, along with hundreds of Afghan soldiers and even more Afghan civilians, have been killed in Afghanistan this year. Mr. Karzai's upbeat assessment of the insurgent force, echoing claims he made four years ago before the Taliban insurgency ignited, came after two days of talks with Mr. Bush.

"The Taliban do pose dangers to our innocent people, to children going to school, to our clergy, to our teachers, to our engineers, to international aid workers," Mr. Karzai said, but added, "they're not posing any threat to the government of Afghanistan.

"They're not posing any threat to the institutions of Afghanistan or to the buildup of institutions of Afghanistan."

Perhaps not, but one of his senior ministers, Mohammed Ehsan Zia, warned last week in Kandahar, where 2,500 Canadians troops are deployed, that if foreign forces leave, the security allowing some reconstruction to get under way will collapse.

While the Taliban may be opting to avoid conventional battles with the vastly stronger foreign armies, they have ranged far and wide across Afghanistan this year. Using effective tactics, some borrowed from the insurgency in Iraq, the Taliban have planted hundreds of roadside bombs and sent droves of suicide bombers to sow panic and wreak havoc. Some of those attacks were in the capital Kabul.

A spate of hostage takings has also underscored the government's lack of control over vast swaths of the country. Last month, on the main highway between Kabul and Kandahar, Taliban fighters seized 23 South Koreans. Two have since been executed. Mr. Bush and Mr. Karzai agreed that no concessions would be made for the release of the remaining hostages.

Yesterday, the Taliban warned that they plan to seize more foreign hostages.