Pakistan Ready To Fence Afghan Border
February 08, 2007
Part of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border near Chaman (file photo) (epa)
Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri made the remarks in Berlin today after talks with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
"Pakistan has offered to entirely fence the border [with Afghanistan]," Kasuri said. "In fact, we wanted to mine the border so that there would no movement across the border. But as a mark of respect to the sensitivity of our European colleagues, we have decided that we will not mine the border for the time being. We will only fence it in certain areas."
The plan is intended to stop militants crossing the mountainous 2,500-kilometer Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
Kasuri said Pakistan would like assistance from the European Union to realize the project.
EU cooperation in Afghanistan was one of the issues Kasuri discussed with Steinmeier, whose country holds the rotating Presidency of the European Union. Other topics included trade, combating the illegal drug trade, and the fight against terrorism.
(dpa, AP)