ISLAMABAD, Oct 16: Pakistan on Tuesday asked the United States to send relief goods directly to Afghanistan and provide access to American markets for Pakistani products.

This was part of the discussion that took place between US secretary of state Colin Powell and Pakistani authorities and five federal ministers here on Tuesday morning, this was confirmed here.

“In our meeting this morning with Secretary Powell we raised that this is our belief that primary objective of the aid should be humanitarian aid within Afghanistan. The aid drops by US airforce should be further supplemented”, minister for Kashmir affairs and frontier regions Abbas Sarfraz Khan told Dawn after the meeting.

He said that Mr Powell was told that the project of the World Food Programme that has been going on for years must not only be maintained but be enhanced. “Aid must be, on the priority basis, delivered to people within Afghanistan. That is very important. If this does not happen then you will see the influx of Afghan refugees into Pakistan”, said Mr Khan. “We have also stressed that the aid to Afghans should be enhanced”, he added.

On the question of security of UN aid workers, the minister said: “We conveyed to Secretary Powell that it is our belief that certainly the international staff has security concern. We believe the UN workers can be supplemented or substituted with local Afghans or even Pakistanis who were prepared to go in (Afghanistan) because this process must be maintained”.

Sarfraz Khan said that Pakistan believed that reconstruction of Afghanistan was crucial for stability and it was crucial for keeping people within Afghanistan.