WASHINGTON, Sept 6: Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns has said that the United States wants Pakistan and Afghanistan to coordinate their efforts to defeat militants hiding in the tribal zone along their border.

In an interview with Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, Mr Burns said that for the United States both Afghanistan and Pakistan were critical countries in the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

On Wednesday, the State Department announced that Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte will visit Pakistan and Afghanistan next week for talks aimed at removing differences between the two neighbouring states.

Afghanistan blames Pakistan for allowing the militants to enter its territory for carrying out attacks against Afghan, US and coalition forces. Pakistan denies the charge and says that Kabul is trying to hide its own failure in dealing with the militants by blaming Islamabad for its troubles.

“The trick is not to blame one country or another,” said Mr Burns while commenting on tensions between America’s two key allies in the war on terror. “The key thing is to try to accentuate our military effectiveness, the three of us together; and also the effectiveness that we can work inside our Nato alliances with all the other Nato countries present in Afghanistan itself,” he said.

But he endorsed US intelligence reports that Al Qaeda extremists have established a safe haven inside Pakistan. “What we need to see is effective cooperation among the United States, Pakistan, and Afghanistan to get at the safe haven of Al Qaeda and the Taliban inside the Pakistan border and also to be effective as our three militaries work together to try to deny them that safe haven,” he said.

Mr Burns said the United States also wants the three militaries to combat the extremists when they come across the border into Afghanistan, attack the Afghan National Army or the US forces in the eastern part of the country.

When an Afghan journalist asked him if Washington believes Pakistan is sincere vis-à-vis the war against terror, Mr Burns said: “Pakistan is a critical ally of the United States. President Musharraf has up to 100,000 Pakistani troops at the border. He has tried very hard. We don’t question his will.”

But he added that the United States is “certainly” looking for a greater measure of effectiveness, and has made that very clear, publicly and privately as well.