Afghan minister appeals for help to crack down on extremists

Afghanistan’s foreign minister today urged the international community to do more to stem the flow of Islamic extremists, weapons and terror funding into the country.

Rangeen Dadfar Spanta said his country remains the main victim of the international terror network led by Osama bin Laden.

Eliminating the network is “an international task”, he said.

He urged the international community to do more to fight what he called the sources of terrorism; Islamic schools, international sponsors, and the influx of weapons; although huge amounts of weapons are believed to remain in Afghanistan, left over from a quarter of a century of war.

His comments came as NATO-led troops attempted to extend the government’s reach in the insurgency-wracked south, where they took charge of security from a US-led coalition a week ago.

A British soldier was killed as NATO-led troops pushed into the mountainous Musa Qala district of southern Helmand province, where three other British soldiers were killed last week.

The death was the ninth suffered by the alliance’s troops since the changeover.

In recent months, the militants have stepped up their attacks against Afghan and NATO-led forces in the worst upsurge of violence in the country since the late 2001 US-led invasion that toppled the Taliban regime for hosting Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida.

Before NATO took charge of security in the south, US-led troops conducted a six-week offensive aimed at expanding the reach of the Kabul government into the region. More than 1,100 suspected Taliban militants were killed, wounded or captured during the operation, the military said.

Spanta said that the resurgent Taliban militants and al-Qaida network are working together in Afghanistan.

“They are different elements of the same terrorist network,” Spanta said, without offering proof.

In conciliatory comments after months of bilateral acrimony, he also called for a “new dimension” in relations with Pakistan. Afghan officials have repeatedly accused Pakistan of training and harbouring militants.

“It is evidently necessary to extend cooperation with our brothers in Pakistan against the centre of terrorism,” Spanta said. “In this field we have the possibility to do more.”

In Helmand province’s Garmser district, Afghan police yesterday killed three Taliban and wounded one, before NATO airstrikes killed another 14 Taliban and wounded six, said district police chief Ghulam Rasool, citing local intelligence reports.

A NATO spokesman would not comment, saying the operation was ongoing.

Meanwhile, in the western Badghis province, four suspected Taliban killed two police using rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns at a checkpoint in Murghab district today, said provincial deputy police chief Abdul Amid.