Pakistan must deal with militant threat

LONDON (Agencies) - Pakistan must deal with the threat to its 'very existence' from militants, US military commander David Petraeus said on Monday.

Petraeus said Pakistani officials, including new President Asif Ali Zardari, increasingly recognised the importance of the threat posed by militants.

"This is a threat to Pakistan's very existence and it is one with which they must deal. Now, they can deal with it in a comprehensive manner," he said after talks in London with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Relations between the United States and Pakistan have been strained after American forces launched a series of raids against militants inside Pakistani territory.

US officials say Taliban and al Qaeda-linked fighters use the tribal regions on the Pakistan-Afghan border as an operating base to launch attacks into Afghanistan.

Last week Pakistani troops fired on US helicopters. Days earlier, militants blew up the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, killing 53 people.

Petraeus, who takes over as head of the US Central Command next month after running American operations in Iraq, said he would turn his attention to helping Pakistan make a sustained commitment to dealing with the militants.

Petraeus, who also met British Defence Secretary Des Browne and defence chief Air Chief Marshal Jock Stirrup, said he had discussed the need for more coalition troops in Afghanistan.

"What we talked about is the general need for more coalition forces, noting that the UK has actually doubled the size of its force over the course of the last two years," he said.

I think it is up to the coalition to determine how to source the forces. This is a job for the NATO authorities, the greater coalition, for national authorities."

He said he expected fighting with Taliban guerrillas in Afghanistan to continue through the harsh winter "perhaps a bit more than we have seen in the past."

"We are going to endeavour to continue a higher level of operational tempo throughout, so that there is not the lull in the fighting season, but that we continue in fact to take the fight to the enemy," he said.

Parts of Afghanistan have seen a "spiral downwards" of violence, the incoming US regional commander said Monday, adding the fight against Taliban forces would continue unabated through the winter.

General David Petraeus told reporters outside Downing Street after talks with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown that there had been "significant progress" in some areas of the country.

But he added: "There's no question but that the trends in terms of violence and so forth have been in the wrong direction.