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Gates seeks Pakistan's support in Taliban offensive

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates sought Pakistan's support yesterday to prevent an expected Taliban spring offensive in neighboring Afghanistan, saying the allies had the chance to deal a "strategic setback" to the militants.

Gates, on his first visit to Pakistan since becoming Pentagon chief, said he had discussed with President General Pervez Musharraf and US commanders in Afghanistan how to increase pressure on insurgents on both sides of the frontier.

"We talked about the importance of seizing the offensive this spring to deal Taliban and al-Qaeda a strategic setback," Gates told reporters at an air base near the capital Islamabad after the talks with the Pakistani leader.

Gates described Pakistan as a "very strong ally" of the US in its war on terrorism.

Last year saw the deadliest upsurge in violence in neighboring Afghanistan since the hardline regime's ouster five years ago. Pakistan has faced repeated claims that the Taliban militia stage attacks from its border regions against Afghan government, NATO and US-led coalition troops.

Taliban fighters are again expected to step up attacks when warmer weather melts snow in the mountain passes used by the insurgents infiltrating from Pakistan in what could prove a critical year in the Western-backed mission to build a stable democracy in Afghanistan.

Gates said he hoped to play a constructive role in improving the relationship between Musharraf and the Afghan government -- ties frayed by the cross-border violence.

Pakistan insists it is doing all it can to stop cross-border militancy, and has deployed about 80,000 troops along its rugged border with Afghanistan.

But the US military says the use of Pakistan's largely ungoverned Waziristan area as a haven for Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters has worsened since Pakistan put in place a peace agreement there with tribal leaders in September.

US forces in eastern Afghanistan have launched artillery rounds into Pakistan to strike Taliban fighters who attack remote US outposts, the commander of US forces in the region said.

Gates said Musharraf had acknowledged there were problems with the Waziristan agreement and they had discussed ways to enforce it better.

Asked about the artillery fire, Gates said: "Our operations are coordinated with the Pakistanis."

Such firing across the border is a sensitive issue in Pakistan, where opposition to Musharraf's support of the US' war on terror runs high.

Musharraf acknowledged recently that his outgunned Pakistani frontier guards have allowed insurgents to cross the border and said the army soon would fence parts of the border to stem the problem, despite opposition from Afghanistan.

Pakistan is under pressure to take more military action against militants inside its borders -- also a possible hiding place for al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri -- although that risks sparking more violence on its own soil.

An airstrike last month on a suspected al-Qaeda hide-out in South Waziristan killed at least eight people and prompted a top Pakistani militant to threaten revenge. There have since been a series of bombings and suicide attacks, including at an Islamabad hotel and its airport.
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