Pakistan offers to erect Afghan border fence

NEW YORK, Tuesday (Reuters) Fed up with accusations it allows Taliban fighters to cross into Afghanistan, Pakistan offered to erect a fence between the two countries to prevent incursions from either side.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf made the offer during talks in New York with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri said after the 75-minute meeting.

Musharraf and Rice are among scores of foreign leaders and ministers in New York for a U.N. summit. Musharraf is expected to meet U.S. President George W. Bush later this week.

"Pakistan is prepared to raise a fence so that we can put an end to these allegations," Kasuri told reporters, without specifying exactly where and when a fence could be erected, how long it would be, or who would pay for it.

"Pakistan can do nothing more than that to prevent incursions," he said of proposals for a fence, adding: "We are fed up of people who say we have to do more."

Relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan have been strained because of complaints from the government in Kabul that Islamabad could do more to stop Taliban fighters infiltrating from Pakistan's tribal areas.

The United States has also wanted to see Pakistan act against Taliban insurgents harassing U.S. forces in Afghanistan in the run up to parliamentary elections on Sept. 18, which are being held nearly four years after U.S.-led troops toppled the Taliban government for giving refuge to Osama bin Laden.

Kasuri said Rice "heard out the offer" to erect a fence, adding that she had been "very appreciative" of the role played by Pakistan before the elections in Afghanistan.

Pakistan has sent thousands of troops to its western border to choke off a Taliban-led insurgency in the weeks before the poll.

Kasuri said Afghanistan had not responded to Pakistan's offer to build a fence, which he said could be erected in areas where incursions were most likely to occur.

The State Department confirmed the fence had been discussed in the context of securing the Pakistan-Afghan border areas.

"We all need to do everything we can to deal with the problem along the border and deal with the moving back and forth by Taliban and others," a State Department official said on condition of anonymity.