RAWALPINDI, Pakistan - Pakistan is to fence 35 kilometres (22 miles) of its northwestern border with Afghanistan to restrict the movement of Taleban militants, President Pervez Musharraf said on Friday. Musharraf said he had ordered the move because Islamabad’s western allies had failed to offer solutions to the problem. But he added that Pakistan had deferred a plan to mine the border due to international concerns.“We are doing it (fencing). We have decided. The movement of logistics has taken place,” Musharraf told a press conference at Camp House, his official military residence in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. The president said the erection of the fence “will take a few months to execute”.
| If they get their fence built before we get the one at the Rio Grande done ... |
Mining the border -- as Pakistan has threatened to do -- is still under consideration, Musharraf said. “A minefield is easier. Fencing is more difficult,” he said. ”But we are conscious of the sensitivity of the international community. Therefore we thought in phase one let’s only fence it.”
The NATO-led force in Afghanistan said last month that it had ”strong reservations” about the plan to mine and fence parts of the border. Musharraf retorted: “This is my solution.” He accused NATO and US-led forces in Afghanistan of failing to come up with any other ideas.
| We could come up with a few ... |