国际英语资讯:Pakistan, Afghan military officials to hold key security talks: embassy

ISLAMABAD, Nov. 29 -- A high level Afghan military delegation is scheduled to arrive in Pakistan on Thursday for talks on security issues, focusing on anti-terror cooperation, the Afghan embassy said here on Wednesday.

The Afghan embassy said the seven-member delegation will be headed by Afghan Chief of General Staff General Mohammad Habib Hesary.

The delegation will also have other high ranking officials from the Afghan Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the intelligence National Directorate of Security, according to the embassy. The formal talks are set for Dec. 1.

Pakistani security sources also confirmed the visit but offered no more comments.

The Pak-Afghan military-to-military engagement is important as both countries currently face serious security challenges and Pakistan calls for Afghanistan's cooperation to secure the border and stop the illegal crossing of the militants, who are blamed for violence in both countries.

Pakistani security officials insist the Pakistani militants, who have fled to Afghanistan as a result of military operations, operate from the Afghan border regions and routinely carry out attacks on Pakistani border posts.

On Nov. 13, Pakistan's military said two security personnel were killed in terrorists' firing from the Afghan side of the border.

That was the fourth terrorist attack on Pakistani border posts from the Afghan side of the border in two months, which claimed the lives of five Pakistani soldiers.

The banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and splinter group Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Pakistan and Afghanistan have nearly 2,600-kilometre-long border, mostly porous, and now the Pakistan Army is fencing the border to stop the cross-border movement of the militants. Pakistan has been urging Afghanistan to take measures to secure the border on their side as the management would be more effective if similar steps are taken on the Afghan side.

However, Afghanistan has long been saying that its "armed opponents are using Pakistani soil for attacks."

Afghan Chief of General Staff Mohammad Sharif Yaftali said in Kabul earlier this month that the Afghan military officials would take up the issue of the "rocket firing into Afghanistan" from the Pakistani side. He had stated Kabul will pursue diplomatic solution to the cross-border shelling.

Afghan officials claim that hundreds of Pakistani rockets landed in border areas in eastern Kunar province in recent weeks, forcing some people to move to other places.

Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Faisal had denied artillery shelling into Afghanistan and had told the media this month that the army "does not fire unless it is attacked" from Afghan areas, which are out of the control of the Afghan government, as were used for attacks on Pakistan.