27 August 2004	Friday	10 Rajab 1425

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WASHINGTON, Aug 26: Pakistan has challenged America's Western allies to match the 75,000 troops Islamabad has deployed to prevent cross-border terrorist attacks along the Afghan border.

Speaking in the Security Council on Wednesday, Pakistan's United Nation Ambassador Munir Akram also rejected suggestions that Pakistan was not doing enough to stop attacks in Afghanistan by Taliban fighters and Al Qaeda suspects.

"Compared to Pakistan's 75,000 troops, the Nato countries only have 6,500 troops," he said while other UN members expressed concern that the Taliban and Al Qaeda forces might increase their attacks during the October elections in Afghanistan.

After listening to appeals from the United Nations, Afghanistan and others to do more to prevent terrorist infiltration, Mr Akram told the Security Council. "We feel very strongly that we are doing everything we can."

He said it was 'unfair' to ask Pakistan to do more when it had taken "lots of political risks and lots of military casualties". More than 100 Pakistani soldiers were killed in South Waziristan in June, when Islamabad first launched a military operation in the tribal zone.

More soldiers have been killed since then in sporadic attacks carried out by suspected terrorists. Mr Akram pointed out that the Nato was sending only 1,500 troops to strengthen the international security force in Afghanistan ahead of October's presidential elections.

Cross-border security, he said, was a shared responsibility of Afghanistan and the international forces there. The Nato-led force operates separately from the 20,000-strong mainly United States force focusing on tracking down Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters in Afghanistan's Pukhtun areas.

The Afghan national army numbers about 13,500. But even their combined strength is less than that of Pakistani troops deployed in the tribal area.