Pakistan denies it is supporting Taliban insurgents

Nov 20, 2006, 13:37 GMT

Islamabad - Pakistan Monday rejected charges that Taliban insurgents fighting NATO forces in Afghanistan are receiving support from its territory.

'If he, or anyone else, has said that, it is baseless,' Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasneem Aslam said of reports attributing such statements to Afghan President Hamid Karzai and NATO officials.

'It needs to be understood that the problem can be resolved only inside Afghanistan,' she told a press briefing in Islamabad.

The Taliban were indistinguishable from ordinary Afghans, the spokeswoman said, adding that Pakistan has done all it could weed out Taliban infiltrators on its soil.

Three million Afghan refugees live in Pakistan who who continually cross between the countries, according to the ministry. Pakistan has deployed troops on the border and established 97 checkpoints in a bid to regulate the flow. Meanwhile, there are only 24 checkpoints on the Afghan side that are often undermanned.

'We have suggesting fencing and selectively mining the border (to block infiltration) but have received no response,' the official said.

Echoing comments made in Islamabad Sunday by Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, she stressed that the problem of militancy in Afghanistan could not be solved solely by military means, and urged the international community to promote reconciliation inside Afghanistan.

It should also undertake economic development programmes in the Taliban-infested southern and southeastern areas of Afghanistan bordering Pakistan, as was done earlier in western Afghanistan.