September 25, 2003	Thursday	Rajab 27, 1424

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PESHAWAR, Sept 24: The US ambassador to Pakistan, Nancy Powell, has said Washington is concerned about the safety of its troops operating on the other side of the border of Pakistan with Afghanistan and is closely working with Islamabad and Kabul to secure the border areas.

She said one of the goals of the tripartite commission, that includes Pakistan, Afghanistan and the US, was to ensure that military operations on the other side of the border were done safely. “We are working with both sides to secure the border areas that have for decades been porous. Our goal is to help them prevent violent or criminal elements from moving across undetected.”

The US envoy was speaking at a seminar on the Pakistan-US relations held on Wednesday at the Central Asian Studies Centre, University of Peshawar.

Nancy Powell said the tripartite commission would look into and resolve the border issues between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The US was working with the Ministry of Interior in Islamabad to make the border with Afghanistan more secure, to strengthen counter-terrorism programmes and combat narcotics trafficking, she added.

Earlier, an assistant professor of the department of economics, Nasir Ali Khan, in his presentation on the reconstruction of Afghanistan called for major steps to protect the neighbouring countries from the Afghan unstability.

Dr Adnan Sarwar, chairman of the department of international relations, in his speech on the Pakistan-US-India triangle said the US policy on South Asia was based on the principle of parity and bilateralism, which he said was not well-understood in Pakistan and India.

Another Professor Dr Ashraf Adeel underlined the need for more interaction between the US and Pakistan in social, economic and cultural sectors instead of what he called the security driven policies.