Washington: The United States has sought to downplay the threat by Afghan President Hamid Karzai to send troops after Taliban militants inside Pakistan, saying the two Asian neighbours should "co-operate" and fight against "common enemies".

Earlier, President George Bush while wrapping up his week-long European tour, refused to endorse Karzai's statement and offered assistance to the countries in solving the "testy border situation".

"We continue to believe that active cooperation and communication between Afghanistan and Pakistan officials is indispensable to focus efforts on defeating our common enemies.

"As the president has said consultation and dialogue, such as continuing the fruitful jirga process which begun last August can bring great benefits to both countries and to the United States," State department s Acting Spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said at his briefing yesterday.

Following the Karzai statement, the relationship between the countries had worsened further with Pakistan summoning Afghan s ambassador to Islamabad to lodge a protest.

However, the US said that it will continue to work with both the countries to root out terrorist elements.

"Taliban and other insurgent elements are a threat to both Afghanistan and Pakistan, and cross-border infiltration must be stopped. Both countries (must) understand that" Gallegos said.

"To render border areas inhospitable to extremists, solutions must be enforceable, comprehensive and promote sustainable development throughout the region. We will continue work with both governments to help them with that" the senior official maintained.

Source : PTI