US, NATO, Pakistan, Afghanistan discuss anti-terror cooperation

PAKISTAN: U.S. and NATO officials discussed regional anti-terror cooperation with Pakistani and Afghan counterparts during talks in Pakistan on Tuesday, an official said.

The talks come amid a spike in Taliban-led violence in neighbouring Afghanistan and frequent attacks against Pakistani forces along the tribal-dominated Pakistan-Afghan border. Al-Qaida and Taliban fugitives are believed to be hiding in the frontier region. The U.S., Afghanistan and Pakistan meet regularly under the commonly known tripartite commission to coordinate efforts to fight militants.

But Tuesday's talks in Rawalpindi, near the capital, Islamabad, are the first to involve NATO, a Pakistani security official said on condition of anonymity because he was unauthorized to speak to the media.

NATO is set to take over control of security in southern Afghanistan from U.S. forces next month and it also plans to deploy double the number of troops that the U.S. had in the region, which has seen an upsurge in attacks by fighters from the ousted Taliban militia.

Senior generals from the four sides will review the security situation along the Pakistan-Afghan border and cooperation in the fight against terrorism, the Pakistani official said.

The official had no more details and a joint statement was likely to be issued after the meeting. Afghan officials have repeatedly said that the Taliban stage attacks against Afghan and coalition forces from Pakistani territory, a charge Islamabad denies.

Pakistan - a U.S. ally in the war against terrorism - says it has deployed some 80,000 troops to its border with Afghanistan.

Islamabad, Tuesday, AP