KADAM SAFAR (Afghanistan): A pothole-filled dirt road just a few hundred yards long separates Afghanistan from Pakistan’s tribal region.

On the Afghan side, a couple of border guards with machine guns and a rope across the road guard the exit to Pakistan. Other young Afghan soldiers sit on top of mud huts and scan the vast Pakistani mountains across the plain.

A solitary American with a Pakistan entry visa is not permitted even to approach the Pakistan border gate. Afghan officials say it is far too dangerous for Westerners.

But locals freely cross the porous border. Cattle and mules with heavy loads, men and women on foot, cars and taxis all cross the border without passports, paperwork or questions.

Not a single person or vehicle in a one-hour period was searched for weapons or drugs, no one seemed to be looking for escaping fighters from the Taliban or Al Qaeda.

“Nobody can disrupt security here, we assure you,” said Mohammad Zarin, who is charged with keeping the border secure at the village of Kadam Safar. “Not only here but also the entire region.”

But as the United States and its coalition allies in Afghanistan pound on doors inside Afghanistan looking for fugitives from Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network and the former Taliban regime, Pakistan’s tribal region remains a safe haven.

US soldiers, who make up the bulk of coalition forces in Afghanistan, say militants frequently skip back and forth across the 2,000 kms long Afghan border with Pakistan.

Pakistan is a key ally in the US effort to hunt down those responsible for the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, but it does not allow US forces to pursue suspects across the border into its wild semi-autonomous tribal regions.

In recent weeks, the United States has moved hundreds of troops to the Afghan side of the border region in the hope of tightening the net.

But even after the deployment, which includes moving a battalion of airborne soldiers to a new site in the southeastern town of Khost, the main US base camps are still 40 kms from the vast frontier.

In Khost province there are five official road-crossings at the border and other well-established routes used by smugglers of goods ranging from weapons to illegal drugs to washing machines.

From the raucous and unstable town of Khost, the nearest border crossing is three hours by a dusty and desolate dirt road.

The road goes through tiny villages where the locals stare at any passing stranger. Men with long beards sit at makeshift checkpoints with their hands on their AK-47 rifles at all times.

At the border, Zarin is wearing a white hat and a baggy green shirt and pants, traditional clothing in these parts. He smiles proudly about his job as head of the border, even as locals drive by unnoticed by his soldiers.

Afghans who can take responsibility for their safety can cross, he said.

“For them, there is no problem. But for you, your safety is our responsibility. Al Qaeda is moving freely in the tribal regions,” he said.

Officials in the district capital of Jaji Maidan, five kms from the border, say Al Qaeda fighters visit there.

Two months ago Al Qaeda came in the middle of the night and circulated wanted posters offering $50,000 for the capture of an American, dead or alive, said security official Nobat Khan.

Khan worries that his men would have a hard time defending the village. He said they have not been paid in the past nine months by the central government and he needs more help.

They do not have a radio to call provincial security forces in Khost for help should anyone attack.

The security force of about a dozen men works in a dirty two-storey office on the edge of the village. “What you see, we captured from the Taliban,” Khan said.

Securing the border was more difficult than many would think, especially with so few resources, he said.

“The border is very vast,” he said. “We have seen infiltration by the Taliban and Al Qaeda during the night. There is no permanent enemy presence, but they do propaganda with the locals.”

The propaganda encouraged locals to “take an active part against the government and the infidels”, he said. That means US and coalition forces working inside Afghanistan.—Reuters