NATO official in talks on Afghanistan

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer is in Pakistan today for talks with Pakistani leaders on Afghanistan, where the alliance troops have carried out deadly offensives against Taliban insurgents in recent weeks.

Militant violence has stepped up in Afghanistan following a winter calm and Scheffer’s visit comes amid growing pressure on Pakistan to do more to stop militants from using its territory for staging attacks inside Afghanistan.

Scheffer arrived in Pakistan yesterday for discussions with Pakistani officials on Afghanistan and regional security, a senior government official said.

Scheffer was expected to meet with President General Pervez Musharraf and Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri later today, the official said.

Scheffer and Kasuri were also scheduled to jointly address a news conference after their meeting.

Pakistan, once a close backer of the Taliban militia that ruled Afghanistan, switched sides to become a Washington ally in the war against terrorism following the September 11, 2001, attacks in America.

Pakistani security forces have captured hundreds of Taliban and al-Qaida suspects, including several senior terror figures.

Pakistan has deployed about 80,000 troops to its border regions along Afghanistan to track down militants and has announced plans to build a fence and lay land mines at selected places on the frontier with Afghanistan to stem any cross-border movement of militants.

However, Western and Afghan military and government officials have repeatedly said that militants have safe havens in Pakistan, mainly in its tribal hinterlands along Afghanistan, where Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri are also believed to be hiding.

Pakistan denies the presence of Taliban fighters on its soil but acknowledges some militants might be moving back and forth across the rugged, poorly demarcated border with Afghanistan.

NATO has a 36,000-strong force in its command in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban. Late last month, Nato forces began an offensive in a patch of southern Afghanistan awash with Taliban fighters and opium poppies, of which Afghanistan is the world’s largest producer.