The United States is "extremely concerned" about the expansion of Taliban militants in Pakistan, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in Washington on Thursday.

"I think the news over the past several days is very disturbing, the administration is extremely concerned," Gibbs told reporters.

"What is happening in Pakistan and Afghanistan is the central foreign policy focus of this administration," said Gibbs. "It is something that takes a lot of the president's time."

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that she was concerned that Pakistan's government was making too many concessions to the Taliban, emboldening the militants and allowing them to spread by giving in to their demand.

"I think the Pakistani government is basically abdicating to the Taliban and the extremists," she told the Foreign Affairs Committee in the House of Representatives.

Last week, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari signed the regulation introducing Sharia, or Islamic law, into northwestern Pakistan. The local government has issued a formal notification on enforcing Sharia in Malakand and Kohistan divisions including the restive Swat Valley. Washington has expressed concerns about the enforcement of Islamic law in the region.

It was reported that Taliban militants have expanded their operations from the Swat Valley to Buner, an adjacent region they now control that is just 60 miles from Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan.

(Xinhua News Agency April 24, 2009)