President Hamid Karzai voiced strong opposition on Thursday to Pakistan's announcement that it would lay mines and erect fences along its border with Afghanistan. He said the moves would only hurt the people living in the region and would not stem cross-border terrorism.
''Thousands and thousands and thousands of people have been maimed and killed by mines,'' Mr. Karzai said in comments to journalists at the Presidential Palace, ''and we are strongly against this idea. We are politically against it, and in humanitarian terms we are against it.
''Mines will not prevent terrorism crossing the border into Afghanistan, or militants who come and kill our people. Laying mines or fencing the border will only separate people and families from each other. Rather than helping, it will cause people difficulty in movement in trade and meeting each other.''
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