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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 08 June 2006

AFGHANISTAN-PAKISTAN: Regional security commission confronts new Taliban threat

KABUL, 8 Jun 2006 (IRIN) - A commission, composed of senior military and diplomatic representatives from Afghanistan, Pakistan, US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), met this week in Rawalpindi, close to the Pakistani capital Islamabad, to work out how to confront the growing Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan, the US military in Kabul said.

“This meeting was the first time NATO and the International Security Assistance Force [ISAF] participated as a full member of the Tripartite Commission, which was formed about three years ago,” the US statement issued Wednesday said.

NATO has some 10,000 soldiers in Afghanistan – largely maintaining security in the capital - while the US has over 20,000 troops battling Taliban insurgents who were driven from power by a US-led force in late 2001.

The talks came as NATO plans to deploy some 6,000 troops in July in the volatile south of the country, where the remnants of the Taliban have led to an upsurge in violence this year.

“The commission reviewed plans to extend the reach of the government of Afghanistan through greater NATO-ISAF presence in the south,” the US military statement said.

Afghan officials have repeatedly accused neighbouring Pakistan of assisting and playing host to Taliban insurgents. Taliban and Al-Qaeda forces are believed to be hiding in the rugged border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“We hope these negotiations would enhance better cooperation between Pakistan and Afghanistan on preventing and curbing the growing threat of Talibanisation along the border,” Zahir Azizmi, a spokesman for the Afghan defence ministry, told IRIN.

Insecurity remains a huge problem in war-ravaged Afghanistan, recovering from nearly three decades of brutal civil war. Over 900 people, many of them of militants, have died in rebel violence in 2006.

SM/SC/JL

[ENDS]

This material comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. All materials copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2006