The porous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan that Taliban fighters slip across to attack British troops is impossible to seal, a top military commander has admitted. The 1,600-mile rugged frontier, dotted with mountain passes and treacherous routes, would take 'an inordinate amount of resources' to secure, said the U.S. colonel. Instead, it is more useful for coalition soldiers to protect Afghan towns and villages that are vulnerable to insurgent raids. Military chiefs have been concerned about the steady flow of terrorists and arms - including components for deadly roadside bombs - across the lawless border, especially into Helmand and Kandahar provinces in southern Afghanistan where nearly 10,000 UK troops are based. The Taliban often pass along little-known routes and back over the border into Pakistan to take injured fighters to hospitals. Colonel Viet Luong, of the U.S. Army, said Western diplomats should also try to foster greater cooperation from the tribes inside Pakistan who often provide Islamist fighters safe passage across the frontier. His remarks came as the Ministry of Defence announced that another UK soldier had been killed in the war - the 103rd this year. The bomb disposal expert, who served with 23 Pioneer Regiment, The Royal Logistic Corps, was clearing a road with the Counter-Improvised Explosive Device Task Force in Lashkar Gah district when he was caught in a blast on Tuesday. He was the 348th British serviceman or woman to die in the conflict since it begun in 2001. Col Luong, who oversees troops in a part of eastern Afghanistan that includes the volatile Khost province, said: 'It's naive to say that we can stop enemy forces coming through the border.' He said troops under his command were still working to control the border but were more productively deployed protecting more populated Afghan areas from the Taliban. Operations and patrols had increased four-fold to 12,000 in the past year while the effectiveness of enemy fire had been halved, he said. 'Local atmospherics are indicating that the people of Khost are beginning to feel that security is much, much better,' said Col Luong. 'More importantly, for the first time, they're feeling that the provincial government is now working for the people.'A senior British Army source said: 'The border is extremely porous and it is almost impossible to stop people crossing it if they are determined. 'Instead we are concentrating on pushing back the Taliban and holding ground in the villages and towns of Afghanistan to provide security for local people. 'At the same time, we need to know where crossing points are, try to make it difficult for insurgents to move around and track where they go if possible.' Meanwhile, evidence emerged of a worrying new trend where militant groups on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border have joined forces hands to carry out deadly raids in their latest attempt to regain the initiative after months of withering attacks from Nato forces. Intelligence assessments from the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) have suggested insurgent factions are setting aside historic rivalries to behave like 'a syndicate' and co-ordinate attacks. The Pentagon has been forced to deny reports that American forces are conducting special operations raids inside Pakistan's tribal areas to target militants. But this year the U.S. military has launched more than 100 airstrikes using drones in Pakistan's mountainous border areas, a haven for hundreds of Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters, killing more than 750 people. ISAF are also keeping a close eye on the Pakistani city of Quetta from where Taliban commanders are believed to be overseeing the stubborn insurgency across the border.
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