Afghanistan to look into Pakistan nuclear dumping claims

Afghanistan to look into Pakistan nuclear dumping claims KABUL, Jul 16, 2008: President Hamid Karzai appointed Wednesday a team of experts to investigate allegations that Pakistan had dumped nuclear waste in southern Afghanistan, his office said. In April, an Afghan minister told the BBC that his government had evidence Pakistan had buried its nuclear waste in the southern Afghan provinces of Helmand and Kandahar during the 1996-2001 Taliban regime. But the minister for parliamentary affairs, Farouk Wardak, later denied he had said this. Pakistan has also rejected the claim. Karzai however has now set up, through presidential decree, a team of experts to investigate "rumours" of nuclear dumping, a statement from his office said. "The delegation is assigned to thoroughly investigate the possible burying of nuclear waste using scientific, technical and residents' observations in suspected areas," it said. The team was comprised of experts, security forces and intelligence agents, the decree said. Relations between the neighbours are at a new low after Karzai directly accused Pakistan's intelligence agency of having a hand in a wave of bloody attacks, notably the suicide bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul last week. Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday condemned Afghanistan's president for the remarks, saying they "will hamper the development process in the region."