Pakistan to Trump: Pay for our border fence

Bloomberg

Pakistan is pushing for the completion of a fence along its disputed border with Afghanistan—and it wants the US to help pay for it.
Less than 10 percent of the fence planned along the 1,456 miles (2,343 kilometers) of mountainous border with Afghanistan has been completed so far due to financial constraints. Even so, Pakistan Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said the barrier should be finished by the end of 2019.
“It won’t cost them much,” Asif said of the US in an interview on Feb. 2 in Islamabad. “The war is costing them much more.”
Pakistan has come under increasing pressure to act against the Afghan Taliban and affiliated Haqqani network after President Donald Trump accused officials in Islamabad of allowing them safe haven. Last month, Trump suspended about $2 billion worth of military aid to the nuclear-armed nation and accused Pakistan of giving “lies and deceit” in return for years of US funding. The border fence will stop the flow of militants crossing into both countries unchecked, Asif said, adding that Pakistan also considers the return of more than 2 million Afghan refugees critical for peace. He called on the US to assist with the fencing and repatriation of the Afghan refugees.
“It’s a free for all,” Asif said, adding that as many as 70,000 people crossing the border a day. “These issues are facilitating terrorism.’’
When asked about Trump’s allegations, Asif said that Pakistan wanted better ties with the US.
“Both sides are trying to decrease the stress,” he said. Both Pakistan and Afghanistan have denounced the other for harboring insurgents, prompting relations to drastically sour in the past year. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has said Pakistan is waging an “undeclared war of aggression” against his nation and has threatened armed confrontation over the fence across the disputed Durand Line, which divided the largely ethnic Pashtun communities in the region during British colonial rule.
Asif said the roughly 600,000 Afghan refugees that went back to their home country last year have largely returned to Pakistan.