KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Taliban fighters seeking to regain power in Afghanistan are taking advantage of a recent peace deal with the Pakistan government to dramatically increase attacks on U.S. and allied forces in eastern and southeastern Afghanistan, several American military officials said Tuesday.
Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, said in an interview that Taliban attacks surged by 200 percent in December, and a U.S. military intelligence officer said that since the peace deal went into effect Sept. 5 the number of attacks in the border area has grown by 300 percent.Eikenberry did not explicitly criticize the peace deal with tribal leaders in the border area and he said he is confident that U.S. and NATO forces are going to dominate on the decisive battlefields.
But he predicted, ``It's going to be a violent spring,'' and other officials said it has become commonplace for the Pakistani military at border outposts to turn a blind eye to infiltration of Taliban fighters.
Col. Thomas Collins, the chief spokesmen for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said the Pakistan peace deal has backfired.
``The enemy is taking advantage of that agreement to launch attacks into Afghanistan,'' Collins said.
Remember, some of the troops for Bush's escalation in Iraq are coming from Afghanistan.
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