KABUL, Afghanistan — The top U.S. general shuttled between Pakistan and Afghanistan on Friday, attempting to bring America's key allies in its war on terror together in fighting the resurgent Taliban.
Marine Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met with President Hamid Karzai in the Afghan capital after a visit to neighboring Pakistan for talks with President Pervez Musharraf.
He said both leaders realize they have terrorist problems inside their borders.
"One of my reasons for coming was to see how I might be able to assist in the dialogue to find a way that is good for both Afghanistan and Pakistan," Pace told reporters in Kabul.
He would not disclose details of the talks with the two leaders.
The hard-line Islamic militia has sharply stepped up attacks this year, sparking the bloodiest fighting in Afghanistan since their ouster in late 2001 for hosting Osama bin Laden after the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.
The increased violence comes ahead of NATO's imminent takeover of security operations in southern Afghan provinces, the Taliban's former stronghold.
Pace said the Taliban represent a tactical problem for the U.S.-led coalition but could not take over Afghanistan again.
Afghan and some Western officials accuse Pakistan, a former Taliban supporter, of not doing enough to stop cross-border infiltration by the rebels, who are believed to use its territory as a base for operations.
Pakistan says it has deployed more than 80,000 soldiers along the border — more than double the number of international troops in Afghanistan — and does all it can to stop militant activity.
Meanwhile, police surrounded two vehicles Friday in volatile southern Helmand province's Garmser district and arrested 13 suspected Taliban militants without a shot being fired, area police chief Ghulam Rasool said.
Police confiscated 13 AK-47 assault rifles, heavy machine guns and eight rocket-propelled grenade launchers from the cars, Rasool said. Garmser was one of two Helmand towns briefly overrun by Taliban militants earlier this month before being reclaimed by coalition and Afghan troops.
Two coalition soldiers were wounded during a clash with Taliban rebels Thursday in Helmand's Sangin district, the coalition said. The soldiers' nationalities were not released.
Coalition troops also used artillery Thursday to kill three suspected Taliban rebels holed up in a house following a failed ambush on a military convoy in southern Kandahar province, the coalition said.
More than 10,000 U.S., Canadian, British and Afghan troops are staging a large-scale anti-Taliban offensive across the south, preparing the ground for the NATO-led security force to stabilize the area.
The coalition says more than 600 suspected Taliban have been killed since June 10. At least 19 coalition troops have died during the same period, according to an Associated Press count of coalition figures.
Meanwhile, three of up to 16 people killed when a helicopter crashed Wednesday in rugged eastern Afghan mountains were identified as the wife and two daughters of an American civilian contractor.
Officials have not determined the cause of the crash. Twelve bodies were recovered Thursday and soldiers are searching for four more. Also among the dead were two Dutch military officers.