Pat Dollard | Young Americans

Agencie France Presse:

The United States is studying a proposal from Kabul for a joint force of Afghan, Pakistan and coalition troops to operate against insurgents on the Afghan-Pakistan border, a State Department spokesman said on Tuesday.

“We’re obviously taking a good look at it. We’re going to analyze it and see where we go from here on it,” spokesman Robert Wood told reporters.

“We will probably have something to say once we’ve done a thorough analysis of it.”

Afghanistan’s Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak on Monday called for creating the joint force during a visit to the Pentagon but did not offer details.

Wardak said the idea was broached about a month and a half ago at a meeting of senior US, Afghan and Pakistani military officials

The Pakistanis “said they are looking at it,” Wardak told reporters.

Pentagon officials say the idea of forming a joint force had been rebuffed by Pakistan in the past because of concerns over sovereignty.

The United States has focused instead on creating centers manned by Afghan, Pakistani and coalition personnel to coordinate operations along the border, according to a defense official.

But US forces appear to be stepping up missile strikes on insurgent targets on the Pakistani side of the border. Reports of a cross border raid by US special operations forces earlier this month infuriated Pakistani leaders.

Talk of a possible joint border force comes as US administration officials carry out a broad review of strategy in Afghanistan as well as Pakistan, in response to rising insurgent violence, fueled in part by the existence of safe havens in Pakistani tribal areas along the border.