WASHINGTON -- President Bush sits down to a White House dinner Wednesday with Presidents Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, two crucial U.S. allies who have been launching increasingly bitter accusations at each other for sheltering al-Qaida and Taliban militants.

"It will be interesting for me to watch the body language of these two leaders to determine how tense things are," Bush said Tuesday after an Oval Office meeting with Karzai...

Joking aside, the tension between Karzai and Musharraf has been palpable in recent days as each made the rounds in Washington -- including meetings with Bush -- leading to tonight's dinner.

In addition to issuing challenging, if measured, words about each other, Musharraf now is on the record as opposing Bush's Iraq strategy...

Musharraf also said Karzai incorrectly thinks much of the region's violence emanates from Pakistan. Peter Bergen of the New America Foundation, an expert on the region, said, however, there is little doubt that Pakistan has become headquarters for the resurgent Taliban, based in Quetta and Peshawar. Bergen noted that several Taliban leaders have been captured or killed in those cities in recent months.

"The short answer is yes," Bergen said when asked if Pakistan has become the base for violent insurgents...

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