'Pak-Afghan border a difficult terrain to deal with'

Washington, Mar 13: The Pakistan-Afghanistan border was a difficult terrain to deal with because people living on both sides have familiar relations, said US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

She said that the US was in constant contact with Pakistan on dealing with violent extremism along its border with Afghanistan, though there was complexity of the challenge on the rugged border. "It is a border that is very difficult to deal with because there are familiar relations across that border. We have been consistently talking to the Pakistanis how they can do more and how we can help them to do more. We've worked with the Afghans and Pakistanis to try to mobilise tribal support through the local loya jirga to deal with both sides of the border," the Dawn quoted her as saying testifying before the House Appropriations Committee on the State, Foreign Relations and Related Programmes.

This was Rice's last appearance as the Secretary of State for the FY 2009 budget.

She said that the US had also been working with the two neighbours to muster tribal support to address the problem. It was important to recognise that the North Waziristan tribal area had been historically ungoverned, added Rice.

ANI