US for joint border patrols

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan’s top security circles are engaged in important consultations over the US proposal on ‘joint patrolling of the Pak-Afghan border’ by Pakistani, Afghan and NATO forces to curb the cross-border terrorist attacks.
“The Bush administration came up with the proposal of joint patrolling during the recent visit of President Asif Ali Zardari to the United States during which he met the US President and other senior US officials,” said a senior official here on Sunday requesting not to be named. He said that the Pakistani authorities were considering the proposal and no decision had yet been taken on the vital issue. He added that the United States believed that the proposal, if accepted by Islamabad, would help eradicate the menace of terror by halting the cross-border movement of Taliban and al Qaeda militants.
Meanwhile, reports of foreign news wire services said that the United States had also sought the participation of Pakistan in a major winter offensive against Taliban and al Qaeda militants.
The official here said Pakistan believed that its troops deployed on border with Afghanistan were trying their best to stop the illegal cross-border movement but it felt that the NATO troops and Afghan forces must also fulfill their responsibility in this regard on the other side of the border.
When asked what was likely to be Pakistan’s response to the US proposal of joint border patrolling, the official said that as for now nothing could be said about that but whatever be the decision, it would be taken keeping in view the national interests.