NATO's chief says alliance forces in Afghanistan will not enter neighboring Pakistan to hunt militants there.
But Jaap de Hoop Scheffer says soldiers have the right to defend themselves if attacked from across the border.
Speaking
at a joint news conference in Kabul with Afghan President Hamid Karzai
Thursday, de Hoop Scheffer said NATO will not seek a wider U.N. mandate
allowing forces to target militant hide-outs in Pakistan.
President
Karzai told reporters the fight against terrorism is not in
Afghanistan, and the country will not be secure unless the
international community addresses the question of sanctuaries in
Pakistan.
Afghan and U.S. officials have expressed concerns that
militants are using Pakistan's tribal areas as a base for attacks on
U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
The NATO chief today said Pakistan must be part of a regional solution to the problem.
Separately
Thursday, Afghan officials said dozens of Taliban militants have been
killed during a clash with Afghan troops in the country's southern
Zabul province.
The fighting erupted when militants tried to
attack Afghan forces on the main road between the capital, Kabul, and
the southern city of Kandahar.
Elsewhere in Afghanistan, NATO
and Afghan forces killed at least 15 militants today, as they tried to
regain control of a remote Ajristan district in Ghazni province.
Also
Thursday, officials say four Afghan police officers were killed when a
roadside bomb struck their vehicle in the eastern province of Paktia.
And officials say three more police officers were killed in a similar incident in western Farah province today.
In
other news, the European Union today named Italy's ambassador to Kabul,
Ettore Sequi, as its new special representative in Afghanistan.
Some information for this report provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
