Pakistan tightens border against Taliban, al Qaeda

MIRAN SHAH, Pakistan (CNN) -- As fighting between U.S.-allied forces and remaining al Qaeda, Taliban and their loyalist fighters raged in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, Pakistan continued to take steps to ensure the hard-core fighters do not receive assistance from inside or along its border.

For the first time, Pakistan's army has seized control of the tribal areas of western Pakistan to make sure remnant al Qaeda and Taliban fighters do not escape cross the border from Afghanistan.

A heightened security alert has been issued along the border and a military high command team is scheduled to visit there to inspect the status of the layered defense system, Pakistani officials said.

The first line of defense -- the Hasadar force, which is the tribal militia -- is responsible for intense patrolling of the border, while the second line of defense consists of paramilitary forces. After that, regular forces are the last line of defense. Pakistani authorities are confident there is no way suspected al Qaeda or Taliban fighters could regroup in this area.

For the last two months, Pakistan has deployed an unprecedented amount of Pakistani defense forces and paramilitary forces, along with the political militias, to the Afghan-Pakistani border area since Pakistan's independence in 1947.

Pakistan's government maintains it has not changed its defense plan in the past two months. Although the government refuses to say how many forces are deployed, defense analysts estimate 30,000 troops are stationed in the two provinces along the border, including Pakistan's special forces.

A recent surge in fighting between U.S.-allied forces and the al Qaeda and Taliban leftover fighters began a week ago when U.S. intelligence indicated the enemy fighters were gathering near Gardez, in the mountainous east, to coordinate an attack on Afghanistan's interim government.

More than 1,000 coalition fighters were conducting search-and-attack missions against enemy fighters lodged in mountain positions, a U.S. Army spokesman said. The battle is still being waged in the southern part of the Shah-i-Kot Valley, where the al Qaeda and Taliban troops are "hunkered down" to escape the harsh weather.

Although the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan consists of rugged terrain and is described as porous and difficult to patrol, Pakistani tribal leaders who control the smuggling routes are sealing them off to any Taliban or al Qaeda fighters in an effort to ensure their land is not targeted by U.S. bombing.

After the U.S.-allied military campaign began in Afghanistan on October 7, Pakistan's political authorities received an unprecedented concession from the tribal leaders that they would not providesanctuary to any foreign or Taliban militia in their areas. The tribal leaders and the government unanimously agreed that if one of the tribal leaders violated that agreement, his property would be confiscated and he would be arrested by local tribal militia.