ISLAMABAD, 12 February 2007 — Pakistan yesterday sealed its border with Afghanistan at Chaman, beefed up patrolling of the main highway and deployed bomb disposal squads after a tip-off that one of the trucks of the NATO convoy bound for Pakistan had bombs.
All the vehicles moving toward Bab-e-Dosti (Gateway of Friendship) located between Chaman and Spin Boldak were searched and the NATO convoy carrying non-military goods was halted between Khojak Pass and Chaman.
According to an intelligence source the bomb was planted in an oil tanker which was part of the NATO convoy. It was detected at Veish on the Pakistan’s side of the no-man’s land. The bomb was of Russian origin.
A NATO delegation is currently in Pakistan to finalize an agreement on the transit facility for NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan.
Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri told Reuters in an interview at an annual security conference in Munich Pakistan needs more help from the United States and Afghanistan if it is to stop the flow of unwanted Taleban militants crossing its borders. “Pakistan wishes to take concrete action and we need support from the Afghans and from the United States in telling us what concrete actions are required.
“Simply making a rhetorical appeal — stop extremism — if it were that simple it would have been resolved long ago in Palestine, in Lebanon and Iraq and in Afghanistan. Obviously it’s more complicated.”
Kasuri said the Afghan authorities and the United States and its allies could help make the borders more secure. Closing the numerous refugee camps which straddle the border would be a first step.
“Everybody knows that those refugee camps have become the place where some of these troublemakers hide. So let them (the Afghans) take those refugees back,” Kasuri said. “We are prepared to cooperate and let Europe cooperate. Let the United States cooperate in resettling them inside Afghanistan,” he said. Kasuri rejected accusations that Pakistan was not doing enough on its side of the border to stop Taleban fighters.
