Afghan a continuing concern: US

WASHINGTON: Stressing that it is a difficult subject along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, the Bush administration has said that the Pakistan President Pervez Musharaf is keenly aware of the issue and that the operations in that part of the world is a tough problem.

"It's a continuing concern, clearly. We saw the Taliban go after the progress that had been made in southern Afghanistan and we saw some pretty tough military engagements in which NATO forces, including those from Canada, engaged," State Department Spokesman, Sean McCormack said.

"But NATO is not going to shrink from that fight and we have been working with Musharraf as well as Afghan President Hameed Karzai to try to get at that issue that you referred to of not allowing safe havens along that Afghan-Pakistan border.

"It's a tough problem. Some of those tribal areas haven't really formally been governed by Pakistan or any government for quite some time. So it's a tough issue to get at," he added.

"Pakistan has proposed an approach. I think it's a little bit early to say, make a judgment on whether or not it's going to work.  But Musharraf certainly is keenly aware of the issue and the problem. That's why he came up with his proposal.  But it's still real issue," he said.