Washington:
The Presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan have called for international support in the fight against Taliban militants in their respective countries. These leaders are currently in the US to discuss President Barack Obama's new Afghan war strategy and ways to simultaneously fight the insurgency in Pakistan.
Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan, and Asif Ali Zardari, President of Pakistan, made the comments while appearing on a US television chat show hosted by Charlie Rose on Friday night.
Karzai called for the implementation of a joint operations agreement among Afghan, US and international forces, which he said would negate the need for aerial strikes and help preserve civilian lives by allowing ground forces to stage more effective attacks against the Taliban.
"We need to find a way to end the loss of civilian life," he said adding, "In Afghanistan we've been saying for a long time now that the use of air power is no solution to fighting terrorism, whether there are one or two or many in a village."
Airstrikes in the vicinity of villages have claimed numerous civilian casualties.
Early this week in Farah province in western Afghanistan, fighting involving American forces, who launched airstrikes, and the Taliban killed as many as 147 Afghan civilians, according to a local Afghan official said.
The US military does not contest that civilians died but has called the official's report that 147 died "extremely over-exaggerated".
If true, it would be the deadliest case of civilian casualties in Afghanistan since the 2001 US-led invasion that ousted the Taliban regime.
US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have expressed regret for the loss of civilian life.
Both countries are struggling to curb a rising militancy by extremists.
"We need much more support, we need much more help, and more technology," said Zardari.
Across the border, Pakistan's leaders, encouraged by the United States, launched a full blown air and ground offensive in the Swat Valley this week to halt the spread of Taliban control in districts within 60 miles (100 kilometres) of the capital.
Pakistan's army has vowed to eliminate militants from a northwestern valley but have warned that its under-equipped troops face thousands of Taliban extremists who have seized towns, planted bombs made from pressure cookers, and dragooned children to be suicide bombers.
The fighting has caused hundreds of thousands of terrified residents to flee, adding a humanitarian emergency to the nuclear-armed nation's security, economic and political problems.
Witness accounts indicated that scores of civilians have already been killed or injured in the escalating clashes in Swat and the neighbouring Buner and Lower Dir districts.
Zardari said Pakistan is doing as much as it can to combat Taliban forces that have entered his country through Afghanistan.
He said Pakistan needs to enhance its capability to secure its border with Afghanistan, and to fight Taliban forces that have occupied part of northern Pakistan.
Zardari said he would like to have more helicopters, night-vision equipment, and even unmanned aerial drones for his forces to use against the Taliban.
He expressed confidence that Pakistani troops would succeed if they were given that equipment.