The US President says Pakistan is a major battleground like Iraq and Afghanistan for the war on terror, urging Islamabad to fight extremists.

George W. Bush, in remarks prepared for delivery on Tuesday to the US National Defense University and released by the White House late Monday, was to say all three countries "pose unique challenges for our country" in the worldwide conflict.

"They are all theaters in the same overall struggle. In all three places, extremists are using violence and terror in an attempt to impose their ideology on whole populations," Bush said in the advance text.

"Defeating these terrorist and extremists is in Pakistan's interest because they pose a mortal threat to Pakistan's future as a free and democratic nation," Bush added in the prepared remarks.

"Defeating these terrorist and extremists is also Pakistan's responsibility because every nation has an obligation to govern its own territory and make certain that it does not become a safe haven for terror," he reiterated.

His remarks came after US forces launched cross-border attacks in tribal areas in Pakistan's North Waziristan, killing at least 21 civilians and wounding 25 others on Monday. It was the fourth such strike in the rugged tribal region in almost a week.

Some Pakistani political analysts say such rhetoric can be counter-productive since they provoke widespread outrage and increase anti-US sentiments among the common people. While others believe the Bush administration is preparing background for deployment of its troops and a major ground invasion into the country's tribal belt.

Earlier a spokesman for Pakistan's army, Major Murad Khan, slammed Washington for killing Pakistani civilians, warning of retaliatory action.

"Border violations by US-led forces in Afghanistan, which have killed scores of Pakistani civilians, would no longer be tolerated, and we have informed them that we reserve the right to self defense and that we will retaliate if the US continues cross-border attacks," Khan said in an exclusive interview with Press TV.

Bush also emphasized that he would be ramping up US forces in Afghanistan -- one Marine battalion in November and a US Army brigade in January, for an estimated total of 4,500 more troops. "In November, a Marine battalion that was scheduled to deploy to Iraq will instead deploy to Afghanistan. It will be followed in January by an Army combat brigade," Bush reiterated.

There are now nearly 70,000 US-led soldiers in Afghanistan to fight a Taliban-led insurgency. But the violence has mounted year by year, with about 50 percent more unrest in some areas this year as compared with 2007, NATO commanders say.

The speech also comes amid growing anger among Afghans about the number of civilians being killed in the country.

Last Month, a UN commission found that more than 90 civilians, most of them women and children, were killed in air strikes in the western province of Herat .

The number of dead in the war-torn country has rocketed. The victims include members of the US-led international forces and the Afghan military and - increasingly - civilians.

According to an official count some 3,800 people have been killed in the violence-hit country so far this year, most of them civilians.

JR/DT