WASHINGTON, March 12: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday the United States was in constant contact with Pakistan on dealing with violent extremism along its border with Afghanistan. She said there was complexity of the challenge on the rugged border.

Ms Rice said the US had also been working with the two neighbours to muster tribal support to address the problem.

Ms Rice was testifying before the House Appropriations Committee on the State, Foreign Relations and Related Programmes in her last appearance as the Secretary of State for the FY 2009 budget.

“We have been consistently talking to the Pakistanis how they can do more and how we can help them to do more,” she told lawmakers in response to a question about the situation in North Waziristan.

At the same time, Ms Rice underscored that it was important to recognise that the North Waziristan tribal area had been historically ungoverned. “It is a border that is very difficult to deal with because there are familiar relations across that border.”

She said: “We’ve worked with the Afghans and Pakistanis to try to mobilise tribal support through the local loya jirga to deal with both sides of the border.”

The 2009 budget request totalled $11.456 billion and Dr Rice urged the lawmakers to support the State Department’s efforts in strategic US engagement abroad through public diplomacy and multilateral diplomacy.

The US administration has sought $830 million for Pakistan under foreign operations assistance in the new fiscal year beginning Oct 1, 2008. --APP