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[email protected] · http://www.coe-dmha.org Asia-Pacific Daily Report August 20, 2003 Afghanistan Pakistani and Afghan officials to hold security talks tomorrow Pakistani and Afghan officials are scheduled to hold border security talks tomorrow. Jawed Ludin, spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai said today that cross-border attacks by Pakistanis and Arab nationals loyal to the ousted Taliban regime were of great concern to the Afghan government and that the issue would be raised with Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri when he arrives in Kabul tomorrow. Afghan officials allege that Sunday’s (August 17) attack by heavily armed militants on a police headquarters in Barmal district in southeastern Paktika province that left at least 22 people dead was launched from Pakistan. Ludin said Pakistan and Afghanistan have to work together to counter such militant attacks that are a threat to the peace and stability of both countries. Kasuri told the Pakistani-based English daily "The News” yesterday that his visit to Kabul would help remove misgivings and misunderstandings between the two countries. Kasuri said the two countries were already sharing intelligence, adding that it needed to be strengthened further to avert any misunderstanding by either side. Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been tense since the opposition Northern Alliance, with the help of the US, ousted the hardline Taliban regime in 2001. The Tajik-dominated Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai remains wary of Pakistan, which once supported the Taliban.