Pakistan's military said Thursday it had redeployed troops along the Afghan border to prevent Taliban fighters from fleeing a massive US offensive launched in southern Afghanistan.

"It is a reorganisation of the forces in the border area," military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told AFP.

Asked how many troops were gathering opposite Helmand, a Taliban flashpoint and a major opium-growing region, Abbas refused to go into operational details and described the repositioning as "nothing extraordinary."

Pakistan has been a vital US ally since US-led troops invaded neighbouring Afghanistan in 2001 to oust the Taliban regime, which was historically supported by Pakistani intelligence agencies.

The bulk of supplies for Western troops in Afghanistan are shipped through Pakistan, but Islamabad has been criticised by the United States for not doing enough to fight against Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants on its territory.

Under US pressure, Pakistan launched a full-scale assault against Taliban safe havens in northwest districts that fall under direct government control and are preparing to open a new front in the tribal belt on the Afghan border.

Asked if Pakistan expected similar cooperation from Afghan and foreign troops as they draw up battle plans against Pakistani Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud in tribal South Waziristan, Abbas declined to answer directly.

"Baitullah Mehsud 's area does not border with Afghanistan," he told AFP.

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