The Afghan government on Thursday accused Pakistan of wrecking efforts to end the Taliban’s bloody 11-year insurgency, in the latest sign of worsening cross-border relations.

The Afghan government on Thursday accused Pakistan of wrecking efforts to end the Taliban's bloody 11-year insurgency, in the latest sign of worsening cross-border relations.

Pakistan, which backed Afghanistan's 1996-2001 Taliban regime, is seen as having a crucial role in negotiating a political settlement with the extremist leaders who shelter in Pakistan's border districts.

Relations had improved between the countries over recent months, building up to a three-way summit hosted by Britain in February to find an end to the war that US-led troops have waged since 2001.

But President Hamid Karzai's spokesman said that Pakistan had now abandoned the peace process and imposed "impossible" pre-conditions on any further discussions that would encourage the Taliban to lay down their weapons.

"Things were going well up to the trilateral (summit) in Britain, so we were hopeful, but soon it became clear that Pakistan had changed its position and the peace process was no longer its priority," Aimal Faizi told Agence France Presse.

"They demanded we cut all ties to India, send army officers to Pakistan for training, and sign a strategic partnership."

Faizi described Pakistan's demands as impossible because India was one of Afghanistan's closest allies, and any Afghan officer who was trained in Pakistan would be viewed as a suspected spy when he returned home.

"And if we signed a strategic agreement with Pakistan, the Afghan public would stone us to death because they know that the suicide bombers that kill civilians and our armed forces come across from Pakistan," Faizi added.

One sign of the breakdown in ties was the cancellation on Wednesday of a confidence-building visit by 11 Afghan officers to take part in a military exercise in the Pakistani city of Quetta.

The government in Kabul said the visit had been scrapped over reported firing of 50 shells from Pakistan into the Afghan province of Kunar.

The Pakistani foreign ministry said its troops had responded to "some intrusions from the Afghan side".

Kabul's new determination to work without Pakistan has triggered huge concern among international backers who are scrambling to foster some stability in Afghanistan before US-led combat forces leave the country next year.