WASHINGTON, Jan 19: US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said that the United States will work with Pakistan to solve the problem of infiltrators crossing into Afghanistan.

“There’s no question that there has been a significant increase in attacks from across the border, in particular (from) North and South Waziristan, and it is a problem,” American Forces Press Service quoted Mr Gates as saying.

But Mr Gates, who visited the US Forward Base Tillman in Afghanistan on Thursday, also said that the US could not ignore Pakistan in the fight against terror.

“By the same token,” he said, “Pakistan is one of America’s strongest allies in the war on terror, and we will continue working with the Pakistanis to see if there is a way that we can begin to reduce the violence coming from that side of the border.”

Recently, US and Afghan forces claimed killing 130 Taliban fighters trying to infiltrate into Afghanistan from the Waziristan area.

A US military official told the news service that “jingle trucks” decorated with various designs and bells, pulled up near the border with Afghanistan inside Pakistan. Fully armed men got out of the trucks and began walking past a border control point into Afghanistan.