August 24, 2006	Thursday	Rajab 28, 1427

ISLAMABAD, Aug 23: The Pakistan Army, Afghan National Army, coalition forces and the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force have agreed to conduct coordinated patrols on their respective sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

An ISPR press release issued here on Wednesday said that the decision was taken at a meeting of the Tripartite Commission, comprising senior military and diplomatic representatives from Afghanistan, Pakistan, coalition forces in Afghanistan and Nato/Isaf, held in Kabul to coordinate the movements along the border.

Vice-Chief of the Army Staff Gen Ahsan Saleem Hayat represented Pakistan at the 18th meeting of the Commission. Other delegates included Gen Bismullah Khan Mohammedi, Chief of Staff of the Afghan National Army, Lt Gen Karl Eikenberry, commander of Combined Forces Command Afghanistan, and Lt Gen David Richards, commander of NATO-ISAF.

The 18th meeting consisted of several briefings to update the participants on issues of mutual interests. The border security subcommittee discussed the progress being made in regional command east and regional command south. The focus of the subcommittee, which held its first meeting in May 2006 for operations in the regional command south, has been on better coordination of security operations along the border area.

The Afghan and Pakistani militaries have improved their ability to conduct operations against their common enemy through better communication, enabled by the use of a geospatial data base and high frequency radios, provided by the United States.

The Military Intelligence-Sharing Working Group briefed about the latest efforts to form a three-way Joint Information Operations Centre with Afghan and Pakistani liaison officers and the coalition forces in Afghanistan.

The group also discussed the use of secure mobile telephones for intelligence coordination between the Afghan National Army, the Directorate General of (Pakistani) Military Intelligence, the Coalition and Nato-Isaf.