Nato forces urged to help seal off Afghan border

London Pakistan's intelligence agency has demanded tighter control of the Afghan border by Nato troops to stop Taliban fighters escaping its operations in the North West Frontier.

Major General Athar Abbas, director general of the Inter-Services Intelligence, said a cross-border flow into Afghanistan was hampering its campaign to crush the Taliban.

"We are at full stretch. I have to say that the border is a joint responsibility," he said in a presentation to the Royal United Services Institute, a London think tank.

"Nato must stop the cross border flow." Pakistan has rapidly expanded its presence along the Afghan border, which crosses mountains and deserts, after years of complaints from Nato that it was not doing enough to stop Taliban and Al Qaida fighters finding safe haven in its territory.

According to Abbas, there are now 821 Pakistani army checkpoints on the border, but just 112 Afghan army or Nato posts.

Pakistan officials have proclaimed the success of its operations in the autonomous territories dominated by Pashtun tribes that have sheltered the Taliban.

But a senior official conceded that it had not set a date to launch military operations in North Wazirstan, the mountainous region were Osama Bin Laden and other senior Al-Qaida leaders are thought to be sheltering.