Pak, Afghanistan Agree to Sign Extradition Treaty

Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed at a meeting to sign an extradition treaty aimed at exchanging criminals wanted by each side and an official signing ceremony will be held during the forthcoming visit of a high-level Afghan delegation to Pakistan, a Peshawar-based newspaper The Frontier Post reported Wednesday.

The meeting, held at Chaman near Pak-Afghan border, was attended by Governor of Kandahar Gul Agha, Pakistani government officials and some U.S. Army officials.

Quoting officials in the Foreign Office, the report said, as a first step, the Pakistani and Afghan border authorities have agreed to exchange some criminals wanted by each side.

Both sides also agreed to remove the houses from the "no man's land" area to make it clear from the criminal activities and keep eye on the movement of terrorists and specially members of Al- Qaeda and Taliban, it said.

Pakistan claims that scores of sectarian terrorists, who were harbored by the Taliban government, are still at large most probably in the southern parts of the war-torn country.

The Pakistani officials informed the Afghan authorities about the measures taken by the Pakistani government to keep vigilant eye on the border for the arrest of terrorists and members of Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network.

Pakistani authorities assured that no Al-Qaeda member would be allowed to enter Pakistan and all possible steps would be taken in this regard.

The governor of Kandahar assured the Pakistani authorities that the newly formed Afghan interim administration would take every possible step to arrest the terrorists wanted by Pakistan, said the report.

(Xinhua News Agency January 16, 2002)