Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak said the idea was broached about a month and a half ago at a meeting of senior US, Afghan and Pakistani officials.

The Pakistanis "said they are looking at it," Wardak told reporters during a visit to the Pentagon.

"A terrorist does not recognize any boundaries," Wardak said.

"So to fight them we have to eventually come up with some arrangement together with our neighbor Pakistan that we should have a combined and joint task force of coalition Afghan and Pakistani forces to be able to operate on both sides of the border."

Pentagon officials said the idea of forming a joint force with the Afghan military was not a new one, but in the past had been rebuffed by the Pakistanis because of concerns for their sovereignty.

US administration officials are currently engaged in a broad review of strategy in Afghanistan as well as Pakistan in response to rising violence, fueled in part by the existence of safe havens in Pakistani tribal areas along the border.

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