British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Thursday he will press Pakistan to allow US and Nato troops in Afghanistan to take a new approach to hunting Taliban and al Qaida-linked militants who slip back and forth between the neighbouring nations.
Brown told a London news conference that he will talk with Pakistan's new President Asif Ali Zardari within days to draw up a revised strategy on halting the flow of fighters across the border. US President George W. Bush and Brown are scheduled to discuss strategy in a video conference call on Thursday.
What's happening on the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan is something where we need to develop a new strategy, Brown said. He offered no specifics. Pakistan's new government is stepping up its military campaign against militants in parts of the country's north-west believed to be safe havens for Taliban and al Qaida-linked insurgents.
But some Pakistani officials have criticised cross-border raids there by American troops. General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Pakistan's military chief, said a raid last week by the US into Pakistan's South Waziristan region killed innocent civilians - an error that could stoke militancy rather than disrupt it.
Brown said he will discuss policing the Afghan-Pakistan border with Zardari when the newly elected president visits London next week. An informal meeting of Nato defence ministers in London next Thursday and Friday will also discuss operations in Afghanistan.
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