U S needs Pakistani-Afghan anti-Taliban work: Rice

Prestwick, Scotland, June 27 : The United States wants to coordinate better cooperation between Pakistan and Afghanistan against Taliban fighters in their border region, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said.

Relations between the neighbours, both important U S allies in the war on terrorism, deteriorated sharply this year after fresh Afghan accusations that Taliban insurgents were able to operate from refuges in Pakistan.

Rice, who spoke to reporters as she flew out for a visit to Pakistan, praised the two countries for fighting the militants but said they could benefit from working together as violence has been surging in Afghanistan.

''The piece we need to work harder on is the cooperation that is U S-Afghan-Pakistani in that region,'' Rice said ahead of a refuelling stop today in Scotland. ''We want (in Pakistan) to talk about what more we can do.'' The level of Taliban violence in Afghanistan, especially in the south, is now the worst it has been since the Islamists were driven from power in 2001.

But Rice defended Afghan President Hamid Karzai, dismissing a Washington Post report that he was losing some support at home and from foreign governments.

''This is a man who is doing an extremely difficult job well,'' she said.

Democrats are increasingly critical of the Bush administration in a U S election year for failing to subdue the Taliban threat.

Despite the violence, Rice said the Taliban was not making a comeback.

''We are not talking about the resurgence of the Taliban as a political force, we are talking about them as a force that is trying to be destructive in a vulnerable part of the country,'' she said.

Many Afghans say their insurgency is only so potent because they get support in Pakistan.

Pakistan, which is battling Taliban-linked militants on its side of the lawless frontier, denies helping the Taliban but says small groups of insurgents might be able to cross the porous border.

The United States, which has thousands of troops in Afghanistan, has also said the Taliban are benefiting from sanctuaries in Pakistan.

Pakistan nurtured the Taliban when the Islamist militia appeared in the early 1990s and was the main backer of the Taliban government until the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

Pakistan then joined the U S-led war on terrorism and supported U S efforts to drive the Taliban from power.

But many Pakistanis are suspicious of the Afghan factions that helped defeat the Taliban in 2001, and the Taliban retain support in Pakistan among conservative religious parties, some of which hold power in areas on the border.

Reuters