Pakistan says will hold off mining Afghan border

BERLIN, Feb 8 (Reuters) Pakistan's foreign minister said today Islamabad had suspended plans to mine its border with Afghanistan but still intended to build a fence to keep militants from crossing into Afghanistan.

''We wanted to mine the border so that there would be no movement across the border. But as a mark of respect to the sensitivity of our European colleagues, we have decided that we will not mine the border for the time being,'' Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri told reporters.

Kasuri spoke as current EU president Germany said the bloc would boost relations with Pakistan, adopting what was described as a substantial joint declaration and doubling European support to the Islamic nation.

Germany Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the joint declaration would result in greater efforts to combat terrorism and drug trafficking and increase dialogue on issues such as non-proliferation and human rights.

The European Union had urged Pakistan not to mine the border as the mines could injure or harm civilians.

''We will only fence the border in certain areas,'' he added at a joint news conference with Steinmeier.

Kasuri, who will attend the annual three-day Munich Security Conference which begins tomorrow, said he asked Steinmeier for EU help in fencing and monitoring the border.

Germany holds the current rotating EU presidency.

Pakistan, which has more troops manning the border than Afghanistan and its Western allies, had hoped fencing and mines on parts of the border would end accusations it was not doing enough to stop Taliban militants from getting into Afghanistan.

Kasuri said the Canadians, who had also asked Pakistan not to mine the border, had offered help. They have experience of monitoring the long North American border using satellites and unmanned drones, Kasuri said.

The Pakistani border with Afghanistan snakes 2,500 km through rocky mountains and across deserts and is considered a major front line in the US-led war on terrorism.

Last year was the bloodiest in Afghanistan since US-led troops ousted the Taliban in 2001. Most of the violence was in provinces bordering Pakistan.

The border was a Cold War front line in the 1980s when Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the West backed Afghan holy warriors and foreign militants battling Soviet occupiers in Afghanistan.

REUTERS BDP BST0007