UNITED NATIONS, April 7: Pakistan on Tuesday called for greater international efforts to combat the illegal drug industry in Afghanistan which "is a serious threat to the rule of law and development in Afghanistan as well as to international security."

Addressing the UN Security Council meeting to consider the Berlin Declaration on Afghanistan, Pakistan's UN Ambassador Munir Akram said the drug problem in Afghanistan was not just an Afghan problem.

"It affects us all. It is imperative, therefore, that the Afghans and the international community must do everything, in the words of the Berlin Declaration, "do everything-including the development of economic alternatives- to reduce and eventually eliminate this threat," he added.

Mr Akram stressed that Pakistan had always supported and would continue to support as well as participate in President Karzai's endeavour to build state institutions.