Militant infiltration up in Afghanistan since Pak deal, says Nato

The Nato-led International Security Assistance Force was monitoring the situation after the agreement with pro-Taliban elders in Pakistan's North Waziristan area, General James Jones told reporters.

"Preliminary indications are that the movements across the border have increased since the signing of agreements on the other side of the border," he said at the end of a three-day visit to Afghanistan.

Isaf was however still evaluating the situation and the first indications may not be conclusive, he said.

"We are watching it very closely," he said.

Nato is building a new relationship with Pakistan as part of efforts to address the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, which was a regional problem, he said.

Isaf commanders were due to meet with the Pakistan military in the coming weeks, he said, with the Nato-led force wanting to remove militant sanctuaries in the region and stop the crossborder movement of fighters.

Afghan officials have long alleged that the Taliban -- which was in government from 1996 to 2001 -- are finding support across the border, with militants sent into carry out attacks.

Pakistan says it is doing what it can to stop infiltration with 80,000 troops stationed on the border.

As part of the deal in North Waziristan, locals said they would stop infiltration as the military scaled down its presence in the area. But analysts in Afghanistan expressed scepticism about the pledge.

Meanwhile, Nato's military commander General James Jones apologised yesterday for civilian casualties in anti-Taliban strikes as an investigation continued into claims that scores died this week.

Jones blamed insurgents for the killing of civilians in southern Kandahar province, saying they had been using ordinary people as cover to avoid International Security Assistance Force fire.

Typically, "insurgents do not play by the same rules that we would like to play by," Jones told reporters at the end of a three-day trip to Afghanistan during which he met President Hamid Karzai and military leaders.

"In this particular case, sadly there appears to have been loss of life and innocent people who were wounded in a legitimate mission where insurgents were using the cover of the civilian population to make it very difficult for us to get at them."