Sydeny (AP): Diplomatic pressure must be applied on Pakistan's new government to keep militants from moving across its border into Afghanistan, the head of Australia's defence forces said on Friday.

Taliban insurgents are using bases in Pakistan to attack civilians and Western forces in Afghanistan, said Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, whose government is pushing for a bigger troop commitment in the war-torn country.

"What is important is all the Western countries work together ... to apply the necessary diplomatic endeavors" on Pakistan, he told Fairfax Media newspapers. Militants must be denied "freedom to move across the border."

Houston made the comments before attending a NATO summit on Afghanistan in Bucharest, Romania, next week.

Australia, a non-NATO nation, has 1,000 troops serving in south-central Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.

Pakistan has deployed approximately 90,000 troops to hunt down militants in its border regions.