Strikes on U.S., Afghan forces up fourfold

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KABUL, Afghanistan -- Cross-border attacks against U.S. and Afghan forces have increased fourfold since Pakistan signed a pact in September giving tribal groups greater control of some border areas, U.S. military officials said yesterday.

Pakistani officials hailed the agreement that was drawn up as a way to entice local tribe and clan leaders to monitor the porous border in North Waziristan, where the central government has historically had little sway. A similar deal was reached earlier for South Waziristan.

But U.S. and Afghan officials say the results to date have been very disappointing, predicting 2007 and 2008 would be the most violent years in battling the insurgency since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Taliban in early 2002.

"We do have a problem," said Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, in Kabul for two days of briefings on the security situation in Afghanistan, said after a meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai that there was "no question there has been a significant increase in cross-border attacks and it is a problem."

But he added that Pakistan had proven itself a strong ally in the global war on terrorism.

The U.S. commander in Afghanistan said yesterday he wants to extend the combat tours of 1,200 soldiers amid rising violence, and Mr. Gates said he was "strongly inclined" to recommend a troop increase to President Bush if commanders think it is needed.

The defense secretary also said Pakistan must act to stem an increasing flow of Taliban fighters into Afghanistan.

Pakistan's ambassador in Washington, Mahmud Ali Durrani, told The Washington Times on Monday that Islamabad was planning a number of steps to improve border security, including the addition of new border posts and the closing of four Afghan refugee camps located near the border.

Nevertheless, U.S. military officials here were scathing about the results of the Waziristan accords, struck at a time when Taliban forces already were increasing the number and sophistication of their attacks on U.S., NATO and Afghan forces.