LONDON - Pakistan is pushing for the completion of a fence along its disputed border with Afghanistan - and it wants the US to help pay for it.
Less than 10 percent of the fence planned along the 2,343 kms of mountainous border with Afghanistan has been completed so far due to financial constraints. Even so, Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said the barrier should be finished by the end of 2019.
“It won’t cost them much,” Asif said of the US in an interview with Bloomberg. “The war is costing them much more.”
The border fence will stop the flow of militants crossing into both countries unchecked, Asif said, adding Pakistan also considers the return of more than two million Afghan refugees critical for peace. He called on the US to assist with the fencing and repatriation of the Afghan refugees.
“It’s a free for all,” Asif said, adding that as many as 70,000 people crossing the border a day. “These issues are facilitating terrorism.”
When asked about President Trump’s allegations, Asif said that Pakistan wanted better ties with the US. “Both sides are trying to decrease the stress,” he said.
Asif said the roughly 600,000 Afghan refugees that went back to their home country last year have largely returned to Pakistan. He said the camps are breeding grounds for insurgency, and the international community must do more to help with the burden and conditions in Afghanistan for returnees.
Pakistan has faced repeated criticism for the forced return of some refugees who have fled war across the border, which the United Nations says is against international law.
Qaiser Khan Afridi, a spokesman for the UN Refugee Agency in Islamabad, said there were funding shortages for Afghan refugees as resources have been diverted to other places like Syria and Iraq.
Pakistan and Afghanistan have 235 crossing points, some frequently used by militants and drug traffickers, of which 18 can be accessed by vehicles, according to a report by the Afghanistan Analysts Network research group in October.
“Any free movement from their side to our side, or our side to their side, can breed mistrust and obviously some terrorist activity on our side or on their soil,” Asif said. “It’s in our mutual interest that the border is fenced.”
Asif in the Bloomberg interview also called upon the US to extend its help for repatriation of Afghan refugees residing in Pakistan, which he said is paramount to establishing peace.
Terming the camps breeding grounds for insurgency, the foreign minister said the global fraternity must do more to assist Pakistan with shouldering the burden of repatriation.
When asked to comment on Trump’s tweets, Asif reiterated that “both sides are trying to decrease the stress”.