Taliban stops fighting Pakistan after truce and focuses on our troops

[bigtree]

U.S.: Afghan Attacks Way Up Since Truce

Wednesday September 27, 2006 6:16 PM

By NOOR KHAN
Associated Press Writer

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) - A U.S. military official said Wednesday that American troops on Afghanistan's eastern border have seen a threefold increase in attacks since a recent truce between Pakistani troops and pro-Taliban tribesmen that was supposed to have stopped cross-border raids by the militants.

The peace agreement, which followed a June 25 cease-fire, also has contributed to the Taliban's resurgence, the U.S. official said, requesting anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Under the deal, the militants agreed to halt attacks on Pakistani forces in semiautonomous North Waziristan and to stop crossing into nearby eastern Afghanistan to attack U.S. and Afghan forces, who are hunting al-Qaida and Taliban forces there.

But the agreement appears to have empowered Taliban infiltrators rather than slowing the incursions, with the number of attacks in eastern Afghan provinces rising threefold since July 31, the U.S. official said.

Southern Afghanistan is bearing the brunt of clashes and suicide bombings, the worst outbreak of violence since the U.S.-led invasion ousted the Taliban-led regime in late 2001. Militants have increasingly resorted to the use of roadside and suicide bombings against foreign and Afghan government forces.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6109363,00.html

something for Bush to ask Musharraf about tonight at dinner . . .