Islamabad, Nov 17: Pakistan today recoiled at Afghan criticism of its efforts to stop Taliban militants launching cross-border attacks, saying that it had deployed more than 70,000 troops along the frontier.
Foreign ministry spokesman masood khan said monitoring of the border by Afghanistan was "very weak," and accused Afghanistan of "badmouthing" Pakistan.
Last week, Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah told reporters in Washington after a meeting with US Secretary of State Colin Powell that Pakistan had stepped up security measures to take on terrorism but should move more
aggressively against Taliban remnants operating in northwestern Pakistan.
Khan said that as allies in the war on terrorism, the neighbouring countries should cooperate and share intelligence.
"I would like to say that it's not fitting for the Afghan foreign minister to go to Washington ... And badmouth Pakistan and issue negative statements against US," the spokesman told a regular news briefing in Islamabad.
"Don't quarrel with a firefighter. What we should do is to put out the blaze and raging fire that is there, and we should coordinate with each other," he said, adding that Afghanistan was beset by warlordism, factional fighting, and narcotics production and trafficking.
Khan said that Pakistan had deployed 70,000 troops to its border with Afghanistan and had a "very vigilant" intelligence network which has "produced results."
Bureau Report
