WASHINGTON - The United States has counseled Afghanistan to have good relations with its neighbors and expressed hope that all countries neighboring the conflict-hit nation will continue to work together in the fight against terrorism.

A US State Department spokesman said, “We’ve certainly said that Afghanistan should have good relationships with all of its neighbors and that this is a shared fight, certainly, on the counterterrorism side that they’re going through together and hope they will continue working together.”

US State Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf was asked to comment on repeated cross-border attacks against Pakistani security forces by the Taliban, whose leader Mullah Fazlullah is believed to be operating out of Afghanistan’s Kunar province. Islamabad has strongly protested the latest terrorist attacks and incursions from across the Afghan border into Pakistan’s Bajaur Agency.

At the State Department, the spokesperson said she had not seen the specific reports about the attacks.

“But obviously one thing in terms of the Afghan side, we’re working very closely with the Afghan Government on the continued threat. And one of the reasons you heard the President (Barack Obama) announce that he made the decision he did about troop numbers is so we have sufficient time to continue training the Afghan security forces so they can take on more of this fight themselves, and also to continue conducting counterterrorism operations in general.”

Harf said the US will have conversations with the new Afghan government on these issues once it is formed.

“We’re looking forward to working with the new government of Afghanistan as soon as it’s formed, and we’ll have these conversations with them then,” the spokesperson added. (APP)