Nato must tackle the Taliban in Pakistan

Without Nato action to tackle Taliban operations in Pakistan, it will be impossible to prevent the growth of the insurgency in Afghanistan (Karzai threatens to send troops into Pakistan, June 16).Taliban forces continue to use tribal areas in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province as a staging post. Militants once trained by Pakistan as part of their strategic arsenal against India have now fallen outside of their mentor's control. Islamabad's response oscillates between military containment and political mediation. Both approaches have failed, allowing Taliban command and control structures to relocate to Quetta, and parts of Waziristan to fall under the complete control of local Taliban elements. These loose cannons pose a security risk to the people of Afghanistan and Nato/Isaf forces, and more direct measures to block their passage to and from Afghanistan must be implemented. Most urgently, key posts on the border should be run by Nato/Isaf until the Afghan army and police reach sufficient strength and experience. This would stem the tide while averting a major state-to-state confrontation that neither Pakistan nor Afghanistan can afford.