Gen: Kayani urges ISAF to check attacks from Afghan soil

Army chief, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, on Monday urged the top commander of foreign forces in Afghanistan to help Pakistan check cross-border attacks launched from inside Afghanistan, the military said.

General Kayani and General Joseph F. Dunford, Commander International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), met in the garrison city of Rawalpindi and discussed a variety of issues related to strengthening cooperation and pressuring militants who threaten security along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

General Kayani reiterated Pakistan’s stance and desire for peaceful, stable and united Afghanistan and the need for a successful Afghan-owned-Afghan-led peace process. He emphasized the need to continue supporting all efforts to bring peace in Pak-Afghan border region, an army statement said.

This was General Dunford’s first visit to Pakistan in his official capacity as ISAF Commander.

Placing a high priority on the ISAF-Pakistan relationship, General Dunford had previously met with General Kayani in the days preceding his assumption of command in February.

“The Pakistani, the Afghans and the international community all desire peace and security in the region. These meetings are important to achieving that goal as we continue to explore ways to expand our relationship,” the military statement quoted General Dunford as saying in the meeting.

The meeting was part of the continuing tri-partite commission effort to strengthen military-to-military cooperation and regional stability, the statement from the army’s Inter-Services Public Relations said.

The meeting took place at a time when relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan are tense over cross-border attacks.

The military says that Pakistani militants who had fled after operations in the tribal regions and Swat valley have fled to Afghanistan and have regrouped their fighters for attacks on Pakistani border posts and villages.

Pakistani officials say that militants have carried out nearly 20 attacks in one year and have killed about 100 Pakistani soldiers and civilians.

Afghan authorities also claimed that forces fire rockets into its border regions.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=39574

Posted by Tahir Khan on Apr 1 2013. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.