Kabul shouldn't discuss issues via media: Pak

Pakistan's Foreign Minister urged Afghanistan not to use the media to discuss ways of improving security along their common border.

Pakistan's Foreign Minister urged Afghanistan on Friday not to use the media to discuss ways of improving security along their common border, where remnants from the Taliban militia and Al-Qaeda fighters are believed to be operate.

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Khursheed Kasuri said the neighbouring countries should "speak to each other only through diplomatic channels," according to a foreign ministry statement.

The statement came a day after Richard Boucher, the US Assistant Secretary of state for South and Central Asia, urged Islamabad and Kabul to cooperate in defeating militants operating in the rugged border region between the two countries.

Afghan-Pakistan relations have been strained recently after Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf chastised Kabul for leaking to the media a list of alleged Taliban training camps and fugitives believed to be in Pakistan.

Pakistan also said the list, which was handed to Musharraf during a February visit by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, was outdated.

Afghanistan, for its part, has accused Pakistan of not doing enough to stop the infiltration of militants into Afghan territory to launch attacks, a claim Islamabad denies.

Kasuri said today Islamabad and Kabul must cooperate because "there would continue to be some problems in Afghanistan and on the border areas between Afghanistan and Pakistan for at least some time," the statement said.