Afghanistan on Monday praised arrest of 17 members of the former Taleban regime last week in Quetta and hoped that it would boost security along the two countries' shared border. The 17 suspects, among them the former deputy governor of southern Helmand province, Mullah Khush Dil, and ex-Kabul police chief Mullah Ibrahim, were picked up by police after a raid Thursday on hideouts in Quetta, near the Afghan border.

"We appreciate the Pakistani police raid on terrorists safe houses which resulted in the capture of 17 Taleban fighters," interior ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal told AFP.

"We hope this will continue," he added.

Investigators in Pakistan have identified one detainee as Mullah Abdur Razzak but could not confirm whether he is the former Afghan interior minister of the same name during the Taleban's harsh rule.

Mashal said he was not aware if Razzak was among the detainees but he hoped that the arrests would improve security along the porous Afghan-Pakistani border.

"Most of the terrorists that carry out attacks in Afghanistan cross the border and hide back in the Pakistan's tribal area," he said.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2005