By DAVID S. CLOUD
Published: January 17, 2007
KABUL, Afghanistan, Jan. 16 — Attacks by militants crossing into Afghanistan from Pakistan have tripled since September along portions of the border, a senior American intelligence official said Tuesday, prompting calls for a greater effort by Pakistan to curb the influx and a larger deployment of American and other NATO soldiers here.
Of particular concern, officials said, has been a rise in attacks by Taliban and other militants from remote and largely ungoverned tribal areas in Pakistan in eastern Afghanistan, where most of the American combat forces in the country are based.
“The border area is a problem,” Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told reporters after meeting on Tuesday with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan. Mr. Gates said more attacks were coming from across the border and from “Al Qaeda networks operating across the border.”
On his first visit to Afghanistan since taking office six weeks ago, Mr. Gates flew by helicopter to a small joint American-Afghan base in Khost Province, less than a mile from the border.
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