Border fighting overshadows Pakistan-Afghan talks on Taliban

FIGHTING across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border will overshadow talks when the two countries meet along with the United States today to map out plans for talks with the Taliban.

Afghan president Hamid Karzai accused Pakistan on Sunday of firing 470 rockets into eastern Afghanistan over the past three weeks in an escalation of fighting across the porous border.

Pakistan denied the allegations. It blames Afghanistan for giving safe haven to militants on its side of the border, particularly in eastern Kunar province, leaving it vulnerable to counter-attack when it chases them out of its own ethnic Pashtun tribal areas.