Nato commander in Pakistan for border security talks

The Nato commander in Afghanistan arrived in Pakistan today for talks with military officials on the contentious issue of security along the porous Pakistan-Afghan border.

Gen. David Richards, a British officer who commands Nato’s 32,000 troops in Afghanistan, arrived for a two-day visit, Pakistan’s military-run Inter-Services Public Relations Directorate said in a statement.

Richards’ visit comes amid protracted efforts by Pakistani and Afghan authorities to seal their frontier, where pro-Taliban forces and al-Qaida militants, including Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri, are believed to be hiding.

Richards is expected to meet Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf tomorrow and other senior military officials for talks on regional security, a security official said .

The trip is his first to Pakistan since Nato took over control of eastern Afghanistan from the US-led coalition on October 5, putting the western military alliance in control of the entire country.

It also comes amid the deadliest spate of violence in Afghanistan since the Taliban regime’s ouster by US-led forces in 2001 for harbouring bin Laden and his al Qaida network.

Yesterday, Richards said in the Afghan capital, Kabul, that he would call for “partnership and cooperation rather than confrontation” with Pakistan.

Afghan and Western officials have repeatedly said that the Taliban shelter in Pakistan and have been staging attacks inside Afghanistan from this country during the past five years.

Pakistan rejects such claims, saying it has deployed about 80,000 troops along its border with Afghanistan to track down militants. But it also acknowledges that it is virtually impossible to secure the entire border.