Cross-border attacks worry Afghan regime

"The Taliban pose a threat to both Pakistan and Afghanistan."

Masood Khan, Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman

Afghan officials will discuss alleged cross-border attacks which have left at least 25 people dead with Pakistani Foreign Minster Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri when he visits tomorrow, an official said.

"The foreign minister is coming in a few days so that will certainly be discussed with him," presidential spokesman Jawed Ludin said on Monday.

At least 22 people were killed on Sunday in Paktika Province when heavily-armed militants attacked the district office in the border town of Barmal, 220km south of Kabul. Another three people were killed in an attack on another border district.

Ludin said the Barmal attack was launched from Pakistan.

"The attack was launched from across the border," he said.

"Over 200 people crossed the border and attacked the district administration in Barmal district of Paktika Province.

"This is not the only incident. Cross-border activities are one of the very common trends we see in some of the terrorist activities that happen in Afghanistan these days," he said.

Ludin said Kabul and Islamabad had to work together to counter such attacks.

"It's no time for old arguments and restating the same things, we really need to face this serious issue because if there is any major challenge still left for Afghanistan and for the entire region it is definitely the remnants of terrorist activities," the spokesman said.

"This is not a problem for Afghanistan only. Terrorists who attack Afghans, kill innocent Afghans in Paktika and Ghazni, are killing innocent people in [the Pakistani city of] Quetta."

Kabul regularly claims that militants cross the border to launch attacks while Islamabad claims they are carried out by insurgents based inside Afghanistan.

Islamabad on Monday appealed for cooperation instead of recriminations ahead of Kasuri's visit.

"The Taliban pose a threat to both Pakistan and Afghanistan. There are remnants of Taliban on the Afghan side, there are large concentrations, they are active there," foreign ministry spokesman Masood Khan said.

"There may be some remnants on the Pakistani side," he conceded.

Relations between Kabul and Islamabad were strained last month by claims that Pakistani troops had crossed into Afghan territory and after a mob attack on the Pakistani embassy in Kabul.

Some 20 months after the fall of the Taliban, members of the militia continue to launch regular attacks on the coalition and government and foreign targets.