SALERNO (AP) – The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan said there will be more coordinated military operations on either side of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, and commended Pakistan on its “impressive” counterinsurgency efforts.

The Taliban in Afghanistan and other extremist groups use safe havens across the border in Pakistan, and the U.S. has been pushing Islamabad to clear the lawless tribal belt that runs along the frontier. The pressure has often strained U.S.-Pakistani relations, with Islamabad bristling at suggestions it should do more.
Gen. David Petraeus, who took over command of coalition troops in Afghanistan in July, told The Associated Press there had already been coordinated operations on both sides of the border, with Pakistani forces on one side and NATO and Afghan troops on the other.
“We want to do more hammer and anvil operations,” Petraeus said late Saturday, in an interview aboard a military transport aircraft as he flew around the country on Christmas visits to bases and combat outposts dotted across north, west, south and east Afghanistan.
Pakistan recognized “the need to do more to solidify their gains in (Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas), and we are going to coordinate with them to help their operations,” he said.