Eighteen killed in attack on Pakistani army outpost

Pakistani forces repelled a mass assault on their outpost near the Afghan border Saturday in a battle that left 18 dead and shook claims by Pakistan's army to have regained control of a critical region.
A separate clash in the nearby Swat Valley piled pressure on a disputed peace deal there, while a Taliban commander suspected in attacks on trucks carrying supplies to NATO and U.S. troops in Afghanistan surrendered to authorities, officials said.

Under the peace deal, the government agreed to impose Islamic law in Swat and nearby areas to halt two years of bloody fighting. The pact has been likened by the United States to surrender. It heralded a militant push into a neighboring district within 60 miles of Islamabad.

In an interview with CNN, scheduled for broadcast on Sunday, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the militants' expanding reach in northwest Pakistan posed an ``existential threat to the democratic government in Pakistan.''

Gates said the United States was willing to provide the training and equipment Pakistan's military needed to combat the growing threat.

''There has been reluctance on their part up to now. They don't like the idea of a significant American military footprint inside Pakistan. I understand that . . . but we are willing to do pretty much whatever we can to help the Pakistanis in this situation,'' he said in the interview. CNN released the transcript to The Associated Press.

The United States has bankrolled Pakistan's government and army with billions of dollars since Pakistan abandoned its support of the former hardline Taliban regime in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. While Pakistan has launched military operations along the frontier since then, security has only deteriorated.