Washington: Pakistan is not doing enough to deter militant attacks on US soldiers in Afghanistan from its soil, the new American Ambassador to Kabul, Zalmay Khalilzad, said.

There are Taliban leaders and other people "that are using Pakistani territory to come across and carry out attacks in Afghanistan", Khalilzad said.

"The level of activity has increased in recent weeks and months...We do not want Pakistan to be a sanctuary...We look to Pakistan to do more on this. And we will work with the Pakistanis on this," he said.

Khalilzad, however, noted that Pakistan is an ally and has been helpful in arresting al-Qaeda leaders and so "the United States would give Pakistan more assistance in return for more co-operation".

US President George W Bush, during his meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Pervez Musharraf at Camp David in June, agreed to a five-year military and economic aid package tied to annual reviews of Pakistan's co-operation in the war on terrorism, he noted.

Khalilzad, who was born in Mazar-e-Sharif in Afghanistan and is currently a senior official in the National Security Council, gave the Administration's bleakest assessment yet of security conditions in Afghanistan, saying that a regrouping of the Taliban and al-Qaeda, increased drug trafficking and common criminals are hampering President Hamid Karzai and the transition to Democracy.

PTI