Canada tells Pakistan fence, don't mine Afghan border

ISLAMABAD, Jan 9 (Reuters) Despite suffering some of the heaviest casualties among NATO forces in Afghanistan, Canada today opposed a Pakistani proposal to lay landmines near the Afghan border, but supported fencing to stop Taliban fighters crossing back and forth.

Foreign Minister Peter MacKay said in Islamabad that Canada was unwilling to compromise its support for an international protocol to restrain the use of landmines.

He said a better solution lay with fencing, augmented with border patrols, aerial surveillance and increased use of technology.

''Fencing, I think, is part of that solution, particularly in high traffic areas, and there have been experiences with fencing that have been very effective,'' MacKay told a joint news conference with his Pakistani counterpart.

A day earlier in Afghanistan, MacKay said he would speak ''bluntly'' to Pakistani leaders about the need to do more to stop Taliban crossing the border to fight Afghan and NATO forces.

But, there were no harsh words in public from MacKay, after his meetings with President Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Kasuri. Instead,he talked about the need to find solutions together rather than casting blame.

''Nobody in the international community, in my view, would indicate with any degree of fairness that it's Pakistan's problem alone,'' MacKay said.

Canada has more than 2,000 troops serving with NATO peacekeepers in Afghanistan, and most of them are based in Kandahar, one of the southern provinces where fighting has been most intense.

Thirty-six Canadian soldiers were killed last year, and the Canadian media has been highly critical of Pakistan's efforts to rein in Taliban fighters.

But, Afghanistan and its allies say the Taliban are still orchestrating their insurgency from Pakistani sanctuaries, although hundreds of Pakistani troops have been killed fighting al Qaeda and Taliban guerrillas in the Waziristan tribal agencies since late 2003.

''We are quite fed up of allegations of this nature,'' Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri said.

Kasuri welcomed Canada's offer of help to devise of system of border security that would avoid laying minefields.

Afghanistan opposes fencing and mining as the frontier is disputed and it argues that such steps would penalise tribal communities that straddle both sides of the border.

Last year, was the most violent in Afghanistan since US-led forces ousted a Taliban government in 2001. More than 4,000 people, including 170 foreign troops were killed on 2006.

REUTERS SSC RN1824