Closer US-India ties fuel terrorism-Afghan minister

BRUSSELS, July 11 (Reuters) Closer US ties with India have worried neighbours and fuelled increased terrorist activity in Afghanistan, the Afghan foreign minister said today.

Speaking to members of the European Parliament, Rangeen Dadfar Spanta urged Pakistan to do more in the battle against Islamist militants and called on the United States and its allies to ''come down'' on countries that harbour terrorists.

Spanta said Afghanistan needed more support from its allies to build up its security forces and in development work to counter the threat.

In remarks given in German and translated into English, he blamed ''geostrategic changes'' for the surge in violence in the south of the country, which borders Pakistan.

''The United States, for example, getting closer to India is seen as a tremendous danger by many countries of the region and here we have a manifestation of that. Without those countries it is not possible to get peace in Afghanistan,'' he said.

''Many countries have not yet learned that Afghanistan is a neighbour, a friend on a level footing, it's not a place, if you like, where you go and occupy. Some countries would use terrorism as a weapon of external policy - it's a pity.'' Spanta said it was ''another question'' as to whether the political elite in Pakistan favoured such a policy. He said Afghanistan was working hard to improve cooperation with Pakistan and had had fruitful talks there.

But he said the international community had been ''hesitant'' about dealing with militants' external sources of support and finance.

''The countries of Europe and the United States of America must come down on countries which harbour terrorists and train them and come down hard on the sources of income,'' he said.

Pakistan was the main backer of the Taliban until their overthrow by US-led forces in late 2001. It then joined the US-led war on terror but has been accused repeatedly of failing to act against militants launching attacks in Afghanistan from its territory.

For its part, Pakistan has been alarmed by the strong ties Afghanistan's post-Taliban government has developed with New Delhi, as well as by a nuclear cooperation deal between the United States and India.

Spanta praised another neighbour, Iran, for supporting rather than undermining the fight against terrorism.

He said Kabul wanted to stay out of Tehran's nuclear dispute with the West, even though it wanted a region without nuclear arms, and urged a peaceful solution to the issue.

REUTERS PKS RN2009