Pakistan, Afghanistan discuss joint force for border

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pakistan and Afghanistan are discussing a possible joint force to combat fighters in the remote border region they share, a senior Afghan official said on Monday.

Afghan Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak said soaring violence has stretched the capabilities of U.S., NATO and Afghan troops, and violence had increased threefold from 2005 to 2007.

"2008 is going to be the highest among all," he told reporters at the Pentagon.

Wardak estimated that there are 10,000 to 15,000 "full-time" insurgents inside Afghanistan. That does not include fighters believed to operate on Pakistan's side of the border, in remote tribal regions known as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

He said Afghanistan, long at odds with Pakistan over the violence emanating from that region, had proposed a joint military task force to operate on both sides of the border.

"We should have a combined joint task force of coalition, Afghans and Pakistanis to be able to operate on the both sides of the border," he said.

The proposal was sent to Islamabad about a month ago, he said.

(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Kristin Roberts)