The top US commander in Afghanistan said today that Pakistan recognised the need to take more action against insurgents in tribal regions from which they can attack NATO forces over the border.
"They recognise the need for more operations in North Waziristan," General David Petraeus said at a university lecture in Paris in which he gave an update on the NATO alliance's campaign to defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Washington considers Pakistan's tribal belt, which borders Afghanistan, an al-Qaeda headquarters and the most dangerous place on earth, but Pakistan has resisted US demands for a ground offensive against insurgents there.
Petraeus said Pakistani security forces had "conducted very impressive counter-insurgency operations" but more needed to be done in the tribal belt, where US drones launch deadly attacks on suspected insurgent bases.
Washington has dramatically escalated its drone campaign against militants in areas near the Afghan border over the past two months, and argues they are highly effective in the war against al-Qaeda and its Islamist allies.
But the US strikes are deeply unpopular among the Pakistani public, who see military action on Pakistani soil as a breach of national sovereignty and say some attacks have killed innocent civilians.
Petraeus had travelled to Paris from Lisbon, where NATO leaders at the weekend endorsed a plan to start handing Afghan forces command of the war next year, with the aim of ceding full control by 2014.
The United States and NATO have around 1,40,000 troops in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban-led insurgency in a war now in its 10th year.
Those forces have trained more than 1,36,000 Afghan army soldiers and 1,19,600 police as part of the NATO training mission, with a goal of 1,71,600 soldiers and 1,34,000 police by November next year.
