Pak may fence 2,250-mile border with Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan is likely to fence its 2,250 miles long porous border with Afghanistan, as the country has failed to get state-of-the art technology to effectively check cross-border infiltration from western countries.

“Pakistan has been left with no other option but to fence its border after reluctance by the USA, UK, France, Sweden and Russia to provide Islamabad with mini mobile radar system,” The Nation quoted a government source, as saying.

The sources claimed the proposal had come from Pakistan’s security agencies during their recent briefing to the members of Parliamentary Committee on National Security headed by Senator Mian Raza Rabbani.

Fencing the border would be not only be time consuming but also a costly affair in view of the terrain that would require provision of electricity prior to undertaking physical fencing of the border.

Out of the 2,560 kms of the border starting from Chitral up to Zhob district of Balochistan, Pakistan has already fenced 35 kms till date.

In comparison to Pakistan, the US-led coalition forces and the Afghanistan National Army had only 100 security posts on the Pak-Afghan border and are largely banking on satellite facilities to check border crossings from Pakistan into Afghanistan.

The border-fencing plan envisages fencing of the total 3,760 kms of the Pak-Afghan border with an average height of 3000 to 4000 meters. (ANI)