Rep. Walz concludes visit to Pakistan and Afghanistan

Rochester, Minn. — U.S. Rep. Tim Walz has just finished a four-day visit to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Walz says he met with senior leadership in Pakistan to talk about the security of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Walz says he's concerned about the security of Pakistan's nuclear devices. In addition, he says he is concerned about the growing extremism along the frontier provinces of Pakistan. He says those remote areas are difficult for Pakistan's government to monitor.

"But the bigger issue the instability that seems to be growing from the religious schools from the Madrasas. It's always been an area of deep concern for me," says Walz.

Walz says those schools serve as breeding grounds for extremism. He says there are 16,000 religious schools in Pakistan with little government oversight. He says Pakistani ministers agreed to do more to manage and monitor those schools.