US working against militancy on both sides of Afghan-Pakistan border

KABUL (AFP) - The United States is backing efforts on both sides of the volatile Afghan and Pakistan border to assert government authority and defeat Taliban militants operating there, a top US official said. Boucher was in Afghanistan for talks with President Hamid Karzai and other top officials about efforts to end the Taliban insurgency and to push development of the war-battered country to discourage support for militants.