"We're obviously taking a good look at it. We're going to analyze it and see where we go from here on it," spokesman Robert Wood told reporters.

"We will probably have something to say once we've done a thorough analysis of it."

Afghanistan's Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak on Monday called for creating the joint force during a visit to the Pentagon but did not offer details.

Wardak said the idea was broached about a month and a half ago at a meeting of senior US, Afghan and Pakistani military officials

The Pakistanis "said they are looking at it," Wardak told reporters.

Pentagon officials say the idea of forming a joint force had been rebuffed by Pakistan in the past because of concerns over sovereignty.

The United States has focused instead on creating centers manned by Afghan, Pakistani and coalition personnel to coordinate operations along the border, according to a defense official.

But US forces appear to be stepping up missile strikes on insurgent targets on the Pakistani side of the border. Reports of a cross border raid by US special operations forces earlier this month infuriated Pakistani leaders.

Talk of a possible joint border force comes as US administration officials carry out a broad review of strategy in Afghanistan as well as Pakistan, in response to rising insurgent violence, fueled in part by the existence of safe havens in Pakistani tribal areas along the border.

earlier related report
Afghan leader much sought-after at UN meeting
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai is much sought-after at the UN General Assembly as NATO and other leaders scramble to meet him at the sidelines over the fragile security situation in his nation.

Facing criticism at home due to increasing deaths among NATO-led multinational troops in the escalating insurgency against Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters, NATO leaders sought reassurances from Karzai on common strategies to end the longstanding turmoil, officials said.

Karzai also expressed gratitude over the UN Security Council decision Monday to extend for another year the mandate of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and voiced concerns about the high number of civilian casualties, the officials said.

NATO is conducting by far its biggest and most complex operation in Afghanistan, where there are about 70,000 international troops, most of them deployed under the miltary alliance's banner.

Among those who met the Afghan leader were Dutch Prime Minister Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, whose country together Canada are reportedly the only ones in NATO to have set a date for ending their military involvement.

The Netherlands, which has lost 17 soldiers in the Afghan conflict, has said its forces will pull out by 2010 while Canada, which has lost 97 soldiers and one diplomat on the mission, has set a 2011 deadline.

Karzai's spokesman Homayun Hamidzada rejected any notion of tensions between NATO and Kabul, saying the theme of the president's message on security to the leaders at the UN General Assembly was "increased engagement."

"Just not the forces there -- security is beyond people in uniform, staying engaged, focusing on training and equipping of the Afghan security forces because the ultimate response, the ultimate solution is whether Afghanistan security forces are capable of defending the country," he told AFP.

The Afghan president also stressed the need to invest more on Afghanistan's national institutions in efforts to improve goverance, rule of law and uphold human rights, he said.

Arrangements are also being made for Karzai to meet with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, who is also attending the annual UN event.

"They will also talk about training and equipping of the Afghan national army and police and the relationship and effectiveness of the mission," Hamidzada said.

Amid NATO member concerns over the unending conflict in Afghanistan, the British and Hungarian defense ministers, Des Browne and Imre Szekeres, respectively reminded that the war contributed directly to their own defense and security.

"Many have yet to understand this fully," they said in an opinion piece in The Washington Times Wednesday.

"NATO is in Afghanistan taking on extremism and the roots of that extremism precisely because it is a direct -- and proven -- threat to every citizen in every NATO country," they said.

"The tentacles of this extremism have spread far and wide, but its roots have been in the Taliban-protected training camps and safe havens of Afghanistan."

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is also to hold talks with Karzai ahead of the Afghan leader's address to the UN General Assembly and meeting with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday.

Karzai will fly to Washington to meet with US President George W. Bush on Thursday as the Bush administraton reviews the consequences of a rapid shift of forces from Iraq to Afghanistan.

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