WASHINGTON: Only a more effective coordination among South Asian nations like India, Pakistan and Afghanistan could defeat terrorism in the region, says the US State Department.

At a news briefing in Washington on Wednesday, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said that the United States would continue to work closely with these countries to achieve this goal.

`Part of the solution is more effective coordination ... Pakistan and India, the United States, Afghanistan all those countries have to work more closely together,` he said.

The spokesman noted that terrorist groups operate in an environment that allows them to carry out their activities.

That`s why, he added, all governments in the region should be diligent about taking the fight to these terrorist groups that may ... use safe haven in one country to carry outattacks on anothercountry.

A more coordinated strategy would require `effectively cordoning off andreally choking off these terrorist groups.

And we all need to do a better job at it,` he explained.

Mr Toner said that the United States was already working closely with both India and Pakistan and would continue to do so.

`We`ve been very clear publicly and privately about our concerns about Pakistan`s efforts to combat terrorism in the region and the need for it to do so,` said the State Department official when a journalist suggested that some terrorist groups in the region were still using the Pakistani territory to carry out cross-border attacks.

`But we need to work effectively with all the countries in the region in order to increase our ability to combat terrorism and to bring stability to the region,` he added.

Mr Toner said the United States certainly recognised that India had felt the scourge of terrorism on several occasions and would continue to work with India on more effective counter-terrorism efforts.

He agreed with the observation that only the innocent people in both India and Pakistan suffered when terrorists were allowed to operate.