By NNN-Bernama,
Melbourne : Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith has urged the newly-elected Pakistani President to focus on security issues, particularly on his country’s border with Afghanistan.
Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, yesterday won a landslide victory to become Pakistan’s new President.
The US has been pressing Pakistan hard to eradicate Taliban and al-Qaeda havens near its border with Afghanistan, a sentiment echoed by Smith.
“We hope now that the Pakistani government and political system can start to focus on the very serious political and economic and social and strategic and security problems that Pakistan has, particularly abutting the Pakistan/Afghanistan border, which bring very deleterious consequences for our troops in Afghanistan,” Smith told Sky News.
Australia has about 1000 troops in Afghanistan.
Six Australian soldiers have been killed and more than 50 wounded in Afghanistan, including nine soldiers who were wounded in a Taliban ambush last week.
Smith also welcomed the peaceful outcome of the election.
“That’s good in the sense the Pakistani democratic and parliamentary process has resolved that without a need for intervention from the military so we welcome that,” Smith said.