July 15 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistan's security controls on its border with Afghanistan are a ``real concern'' for the U.S., the State Department said after an attack two days ago killed nine American soldiers at a camp near the frontier.

``There is a deep concern about cross-border infiltration from Pakistan into Afghanistan and then back over the border,'' department spokesman Sean McCormack said at a briefing in Washington yesterday. Pakistan understands ``the importance of engaging in the counterterrorism fight.''

The soldiers were killed in Kunar province, northeastern Afghanistan, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said in a statement. A group of about 200 gunmen raided a U.S. post in the deadliest attack on U.S. forces in Afghanistan for three years, the Associated Press reported.

Pakistan's government says it is combating extremism through the selective use of force and a strategy of economic and political development in the tribal regions. The U.S. and NATO say Pakistan's policy of holding talks with militants in the tribal areas has led to increased attacks by Taliban and al- Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan.

Twenty-eight coalition soldiers were killed in June in the deadliest month for the force in Afghanistan since the conflict began there in 2001, the U.S. Defense Department said earlier this month. Terrorist incidents in eastern Afghanistan were 50 percent higher in April than the same month in 2007, according to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Talks With Pakistan

NATO and U.S. commanders are trying to address border security with Pakistan's army, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said in Washington yesterday, according to the American Forces Press Service. Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, met with Pakistani leaders July 12 in Islamabad to discuss the frontier.

``There have been a number of discussions in recent weeks,'' Whitman said. ``Those will continue as we try to address the border region in a comprehensive way.''

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's government took office after opposition parties defeated supporters of President Pervez Musharraf in February's general elections.

Musharraf, a key ally of the U.S. in the fight against terrorism, deployed more than 100,000 soldiers in Federally Administered Tribal Areas to combat Taliban and al-Qaeda terrorists crossing the 2,430-kilometer (1,510-mile) frontier with Afghanistan.

Al-Qaeda Bases

The U.S. has given Pakistan $10 billion in mostly military aid since Sept. 11, 2001, with the aim of securing the nuclear- armed country against al-Qaeda. NATO and U.S. intelligence agencies say the terrorist network uses bases in Pakistan's northwestern tribal region to train, re-arm and plan attacks against troops in Afghanistan.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai yesterday blamed Pakistan's intelligence agency for being behind recent attacks by militants, Agence France-Presse reported. Pakistan has repeatedly denied any involvement, saying it wants to work with Afghanistan to defeat terrorism.

``No one should indulge in the blame game rather than fight this menace jointly,'' Gilani said last week in Malaysia, according to the official Associated Press of Pakistan.

Pakistan's army will be used against militants in the tribal areas only as a last option, Gilani said last month. Soldiers will be called on only when local governments ask for help, he said, according to APP.

The police force in Pakistan is incapable of combating crime, upholding the law or protecting people from militant violence and needs to be rebuilt, the International Crisis Group said in a report yesterday.

``The international community, particularly the U.S. and European Union, should realize that helping the police and civilian intelligence agencies with training and technical assistance would pay counterterrorism dividends,'' the Brussels- based group said. ``The government and its Western allies would be best served by reallocating resources from the military to the police.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Tighe in Sydney at ptighe@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: July 14, 2008 21:47 EDT