US can8217;t seal Af-Pak border: Pentagon

8220;In order to secure the border,as well 8212; as you know,it takes a lot. It takes effort on the other side,by the Pakistanis,8221; said Luong,who is responsible for eastern Afghanistan which includes the volatile Khost province and 261 km of Af-Pak border.

In a special video conferencing with Pentagon reporters from Kabul,he said,8221;as our footprint is expanded along the security line of effort,it8217;s harder and harder for these guys to come and bed down in these villages.8221;

8220;To secure the border in the traditional sense,if you8217;re talking about,you know,like what we would do along our own border with Mexico down in the southwestern United States,that8217;s not what we8217;re doing. It takes an inordinate amount of resources and force to be able to do that,8221; he said in response to a question.

8220;You can look at this as a defence in depth,whereby you have your front line defenders,which are 8212; which really starts on the Pakistani side of the house,by the way. They have hundreds of border checkpoints across backed up by dozens of checkpoints on our side that8217;s manned by Afghan border police,and then we back those guys up with US and ANA forces,really to hand over the border piece to the Afghan border police,8221; he observed.

8220;You can get more effects by defending in depth than you are in line. So we pick and choose where 8212; the best places that we can defend the border,and then be able to target those guys where they feel safe in. I think that8217;s been the key to our success,8221; he said.