Dutch to press Pakistan to plug Afghan border

KABUL, Nov 4 (Reuters) The Netherlands will press Pakistan to do more to stop Afghan militants operating from its territory and will push its own NATO allies to send more troops to the volatile south, where it took command this week.

Visiting Kabul, Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot told reporters today he would take up the border issue with officials in Islamabad over the weekend.

Afghanistan accuses Pakistan of not doing enough to close training camps for the Taliban and other militant groups in its lawless borderlands and some officials say Islamabad is still actively sponsoring its former protege. Pakistan denies this.

''The world community, including the Netherlands, is very serious about exerting pressure on Pakistan to see to it that the border is sealed off, that terrorists can no longer cross from Pakistan into ... the south of your country,'' Bot said.

''If Pakistan realises that the world is looking at them, then I am also sure that we can put a halt to it.''.

MORE TROOPS NEEDED IN SOUTH Afghan intelligence officials say all the Taliban's training camps are in Pakistan and that the hardline Islamist group is still backed by the government in Islamabad.

Bot also said countries contributing to the NATO-led International Assistance Force should deploy more troops to the south, the Taliban's heartland where the Netherlands took over NATO's regional command from Canada this week.

''We feel that more NATO members should commit themselves not only on paper ... but by sending more troops to sensitive and difficult areas,'' he said.

Other countries with troops concentrated in the south, including Canada, have made similar calls ahead of a NATO summit at the end of this month.

Afghanistan is going through its bloodiest year since a US-led invasion ousted the Taliban's strict Islamist government in late 2001. More than 3,100 people have died so far this year, about a third of them civilians.

NATO took over control of security across the entire country from US forces last month and has about 31,000 troops under its command.

The Netherlands has about 1,670 troops in Afghanistan, mostly in the rugged southern province of Uruzgan.

NATO troops fought suspected Taliban insurgents during an operation to track down guerrillas northeast of Kabul today in the first major encounter in the area since the 2001 war.

A NATO spokesman said the clash in the Tagab valley, 70 km from the capital, came a day after NATO warplanes struck a compound in the area housing up to 10 rebels.

It was not known how many were killed in yesterday's attack.

In Rome, an Italian journalist kidnapped and held in southern Afghanistan returned a day after being released unharmed.

''I am well. Thank you, Italy,'' 36-year-old Gabriele Torsello told reporters at Rome's Ciampino airport.

Five men seized Torsello on October 12 from a bus on the highway from the capital of Helmand province to neighbouring Kandahar province, both Taliban strongholds and major opium centres.

Afghan police say he was held by the Taliban, but the group denied any involvement, blaming criminals instead.

Italian officials have denied paying a ransom.

REUTERS AKJ BD2244