September 10, 2008	Wednesday	Ramazan 09, 1429

BERLIN, Sept 9: Pakistan strongly rejected western accusations that it is not doing enough to root out Taliban extremists within its borders, a high-ranking official said at a security conference here on Tuesday.

“Pakistan feels wronged when confronted by the clamour to do more, and fails to see any reasons for the trust deficit from which our friends and allies seem to be suffering in their perception about Pakistan,” according to remarks prepared for delivery by Defence Secretary Kamran Rasool and read by Islamabad’s ambassador to Berlin, Shahid Ahmad Kamal.

“No country has done more than Pakistan in fighting terrorism and no country has suffered or taken as many losses as Pakistan in this struggle.”

The remarks came a few minutes after Nato deputy secretary-general Claudio Bisogniero called for Islamabad to step up its fight against militants mounting attacks in Afghanistan, at the conference organised by German newspaper Handelsblatt.

“Pakistan has stepped up its support to the Isaf mission and this is very much appreciated by us, but we still feel that it can and should do more,” he said, referring to the Nato-led occupation force in Afghanistan.

“For as long as the border regions of Pakistan remain a hiding place for the Taliban, the security and the stability in Afghanistan, but also the security and stability in Pakistan, will remain precarious.” Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta expressed approval on Monday during a visit to Berlin of suspected US missile strikes against alleged extremist targets in Pakistan.

He said on Tuesday at the conference that he saw the new civilian government in Pakistan as ready to combat “terrorism”.

“The demilitarisation of the state in Pakistan is our chance to encourage anti-terrorist and democratic forces in our neighbouring country,” he said.

German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung, whose country has 3,300 troops in Afghanistan under Nato command, also expressed optimism about the commitment of the new Pakistani government to regional security.

Pakistan’s new President Asif Ali Zardari and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai pledged after talks in Islamabad on Tuesday that they would stand together in the fight against “terrorism”.—AFP