Pak-Afghan border, a major challenge: Joe Biden

Washington, Dec 22: The US Vice President-elect Joe Biden has described tackling terror safe-havens in the lawless Pak-Afghan tribal areas as the top challenge for the Obama administration in the first six months.

Terming the issue as the number one challenge for the Obama administration, he said: "First and foremost, I think if you want to talk about immediacy, I think that the Afghanistan-Pakistan track is a very immediate concern."

Biden said that the issue becomes more important because of the fact that it implicates India too.

"I think what is clear from the outset here is that we have a situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan that is urgent. It implicates India. It also implicates a whole lot of other very complicated issues," The Dawn quoted Biden as saying.

Senior officials in Washington have said that the 'war-on-terror' should be fought in collaboration with Pakistan.

"The United States would encourage Pakistan to take (more) action in the ungoverned spaces in western Pakistan where the Taliban and Al Qaeda and some of the other violent extremists have found sanctuary," US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said.

The US Joint Chief of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen emphasized on the need of a well planned and synchronised step for tackling the issue on both sides of the Aghanistan-Pakistan border.

"We're not where we need to be. We need to be coordinated and synchronised on both sides of that border," the paper quoted Admiral Mullen as saying.

Pakistan stands as an important ally of the US in South-Asia, as a significant proportion of supplies to troops in Afghanistan depended on the stability of Pakistan.

ANI