ISLAMABAD, 07/11/06 - Foreign Minister Bernard Bot has made efforts in Pakistan and Afghanistan to remove obstacles in the fight against terrorism. Labour (PvdA) questions whether promises he has received can be made firm.
During a lightning visit to Pakistan, Bot asked his counterpart Khursid Mahmud Kasuri to close off and check the long border with Afghanistan better. Many Taliban live on the Pakistani side, among other locations in the town of Quetta and in locations where they are trained.
Kasuri estimated that 30,000 people cross the border daily without identity papers. But this is mainly family traffic between the Pashtun, a tribal group that lives on both sides of the border, he said. Additionally, there are some tribal areas there where the central authority of Pakistani President Musharraf holds no sway.
Kasuri wants NATO, which is operating the ISAF mission in Afghanistan, to carry out checkups at checkpoints to be set up in the border area. Bot has said he will bring the matter up at the next NATO summit in Riga.
In Afghanistan, Bot received a promise from Afghan President Hamid Karzai that the Afghan government will deploy more of its own soldiers in Uruzgan. Bot had complained that the Netherlands recently decided to send 130 extra soldiers to this province, while the Afghan government was not keeping its promises for extra troops.
There were to be 1,200 Afghan troops in Uruzgan, but there are still only 220. Afghan defence minister Abdul Rahim Wardak, said he might be able to scrape together 750 troops for Uruzgan in the short term. Bot also brought up the shortage of Afghan police.
Karzai has also promised to go to Uruzgan himself soon, according to Bot. The Netherlands had pressed for more visibility of the central authority from Kabul in this poor and backward province. In Afghanistan, Bot also had talks with about 55 tribal leaders and Uruzgan governor Munib. Bot is also visiting India.
PvdA MP Bert Koeners considers the promise Bot received from Karzai for extra Afghan troops "vague." Additionally, no clear timetable has been agreed, the MP commented. "I think that Bot should have thumped his fist on the table harder."
