Pakistan had decided to fence and mine selective border locations to curb movement of Taliban extremists and terrorists, Musharraf said. He said that the border security was a joint responsibility of Pakistan, Afghanistan, United States and the coalition forces. "Afghanistan should step up monitoring on their side of the border to stop the infiltration," he added.
President Musharraf told Gates that there were some problems in complete enforcement of the Waziristan peace accord that would be resolved soon. The agreement had helped maintain peace and trace out terrorists in the region, he added. He also urged for same agreements in Afghanistan.
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates also discussed the war on terrorism, elimination of extremism, US-Pakistan defence co-operation and strategic partnership and the security situation at the Pak-Afghan border. Ignoring Afghanistan after withdrawal of Russian troops was a blunder that fanned extremism in the region, he admitted.
The US defence secretary said that the blunder would not be repeated and the US forces would stay in Afghanistan for a long period. Gates said Pakistan is clearly a very strong ally of the United States on this issue. The meeting was also attended by Federal Defence Minister Rao Sikandar Iqbal, Secretary Defence Lieutenant General (Retd) Tariq Waseem Ghazi and US Ambassador in Pakistan.