Kabul, July 15: Senior officials from Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United States met today hoping to ease tensions that have led to border clashes between Afghan and Pakistani forces, a presidential spokesman said. The meeting was the first in Kabul of a tripartite commission that was established in April in part to discuss regional security. The Pakistani delegation was led by Maj Gen Ashfaq Kiyani, while Afghan officials were led by National Security Adviser Zalmay Rasul, said presidential spokesman Jawid Luddin. A senior US military official was representing the Americans. The commission was set up after Afghan president Hamid Karzai visited Pakistan in April. It met for the first time in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, on June 17.

Since then relations have deteriorated amid reports that soldiers from the two nations have clashed several times this month.

Luddin said yesterday an investigative team sent to the frontier had determined that Pakistani troops had crossed several hundred metres into afghan territory in Goshta and Lalpor villages in eastern afghan province of Nangarhar.
Pakistan says its troops were in the border region to hunt militants opposed to the afghan government.

Pakistan deployed additional troops there despite a bitter outcry from Pakistani tribesmen who object to their presence.
"One of the things we'll be talking about will be the reports our investigation team made in the eastern provinces," Luddin said.
Bureau Report