VOA标准英语2008年-Afghanistan Calls for Joint Border Patrol with

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Afghanistan's defense¹ minister is in Washington, promoting his plan to establish a joint² Afghan-Pakistani military force to patrol the dangerous border between the two countries. VOA's Kent Klein reports.
　
Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak, 22 Sep 2008

Violence in Afghanistan this year is at its highest level since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. Some 3,000 people have been killed in Afghanistan during the past year. U.S. President George Bush has promised to send about 4,500 additional American troops to Afghanistan in January.

One of the most violent areas of Afghanistan is the mountainous region along the border with Pakistan, where the leaders of the Taliban and the al-Qaida terror network are believed to be operating.

Afghanistan's Defense Minister, General Abdul Rahim Wardak, says he wants to work with his counterparts in Pakistan to create a joint military force to fight terrorism in the region.

"We need to establish an enhanced mechanism³ for practical cross-border cooperation, including strengthening routine links between our military, border security and law enforcement institutions. We must move beyond diplomacy⁴ and confidence-builing exchanges, to the delivery of practical results," he said.

Wardak spoke⁵ Wednesday at a forum⁶ at The Heritage Foundation, a Washington-based research institute.

"We should help each other interfere⁷ with the terrorists' communication, planning, weapon procurement⁸, training and capturing their senior leadership. I continue to believe that we need mechanisms⁹ for responding jointly¹⁰ to incidents, whichever side of the border they occur," he said.

General Wardak says he has not discussed the proposal with Pakistani officials.

Wardak acknowledges that the Taliban is gaining strength and becoming more organized. But he says Afghanistan's national security forces and police have been improving steadily¹¹, and that he is optimistic that stability and security can be achieved.

The defense minister says international support will be crucial in the near term.

"An increase of international forces is welcome, and can provide transitional relief, until the Afghan national security forces are fully¹² developed. But the Afghan national security forces are the long-term solution," he said.

General Wardak says the second factor for success is whether Afghanistan's electoral institutions deliver a legitimate¹³, elected government. The third, he says, is international pressure to deny safe haven¹⁴, sanctuary¹⁵ and support for terrorists.

The Afghan defense minister says turning back the recent surge in violence will require increasing the size of Afghanistan's Army from 76,000 troops to 134,000.