Islamabad, Pakistan – Under growing pressure from the Bush administration and NATO to stem the cross-border movement of Taliban fighters, Pakistan announced Tuesday it would construct a fence and plant land mines along parts of its remote, rugged frontier with Afghanistan.
The measure was denounced by the Afghan government, and some analysts questioned whether it would be practical.
Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammed Khan, who unveiled the plan, did not say how much of the 1,500-mile-long frontier would be affected, or when the work would begin. He also said additional paramilitary forces would be deployed along the frontier but did not say how many. Some 80,000 Pakistani troops are currently stationed in border areas.
In Kabul, an aide to Afghan President Hamid Karzai was critical of the plan.
Khan said the barrier and the mines would be placed inside Pakistani territory, and therefore Afghanistan’s consent was not needed.
Afghanistan and Pakistan have been quarreling sharply in recent weeks over which bears the greater responsibility for cross-border infiltration by Taliban fighters.
