LONDON, Sept 11: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will meet in London President Asif Ali Zardari, who is arriving here on Sept 16 on a private visit, to discuss a “new security strategy” to halt the movement of Taliban fighters across Pakistan-Afghanistan borders.

The British prime minister stated this at his regular monthly press conference on Thursday while answering a question if he approved the policy of troops crossing over from Afghanistan into Pakistan in hot pursuit.

Sidestepping a direct answer, Mr Brown said a new strategy was needed to halt the flow of Taliban and militant fighters between Pakistan and its neighbour.

He further said he would discuss a new approach to policing the Afghan-Pakistan border in talks with US President George W. Bush as well.

Mr Brown said the two leaders were holding a video-conference later on Thursday to assess the work of US and Nato troops in Afghanistan.

He said he had talked to President Zardari and congratulated him on his elections. “He is going to visit Britain in the next few days time”.

Elaborating, he said what was happening on Pakistan-Afghanistan border was something new and a new strategy needed to be developed. “There are of course means with which we are trying to prevent people from moving back and forth. This is a matter I will discuss not only with President Zardari, but also with President Bush in my video-conference with him later today.”

He said Afghanistan’s problem was two-fold -- “one is the new tactics adopted by the Taliban -- road-side bombing and guerrilla tactics -- that is creating problems and causing casualties. We are dealing with this, at the same time the increasing insecurity in the border region is a problem for both Pakistan and Afghanistan. We need a new security strategy to deal with this problem.”

Mr Brown said the “porousness” of the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan was a “problem for both countries”.

Commenting on the continuing fight against the Taliban, Mr Brown said the UK must ‘maintain’ its presence in the ‘front line’ in Afghanistan to ensure terrorist threats were not exported back to ‘our streets’.

He said his government remained “permanently on guard” against the threat of terrorism in the UK. The prime minister used the opportunity to praise the police and security services of Britain for foiling terrorist plots against the UK.

He said the UK’s military presence in Afghanistan was crucial in helping to stop attacks taking place in Britain.

Mr Brown reaffirmed his government’s determination to combat the continued terror threat in the UK.

“I think the Metropolitan Police have a very good record of preventing terrorist plots in the capital,” he said.

“The police and security services must be commended for the number of plots they have had to deal with and the number of people they have had to follow.”

The authorities were tracking hundreds of people who were considered potential threats to the country, he said.

Mr Brown also defended his government’s anti-terror legislation, including the controversial 42-day pre-charge detention limit currently before parliament.

Mr Zardari is visiting the UK specifically to get his daughters Bakhtawar and Asifa admitted to educational institutions here.