Manama, Bahrain – U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates thanked Pakistan on Monday for what he said were stepped-up efforts to crack down on the flow of fighters from its borders into Afghanistan.
Gates held an hour-long meeting with President Pervez Musharraf during a brief stop in Islamabad, the capital.
“It’s incurring significant costs in lives and, I might add, in treasure in fighting this battle on the border,” Gates said.
The Pakistani government has come under intense criticism from U.S. and European officials after signing a peace deal last year with Taliban-linked tribal leaders in the Waziristan border regions.
Western allies believe the deal has enabled insurgents to launch attacks in neighboring Afghanistan.
American commanders inside Afghanistan have reported a surge in attacks since the agreement was signed, and similar claims by Afghan President Hamid Karzai have led to a war of words between the neighboring leaders, with each accusing the other of failing to crack down on the extremist groups.
The meeting with Musharraf was the last in a five-day, three-country trip for Gates where, at every opportunity, he pressed American allies to increase their efforts in Afghanistan ahead of a suspected Taliban offensive this spring.
