Insurgents crossing into Pakistan: US general

[Naveed Yaseen]

BAGRAM AIR BASE: The top United States general in eastern Afghanistan said on Friday he saw “some very interesting movement” of insurgents across the border into Pakistan this spring, possibly to join Taliban battling government troops.

Maj Gen Jeffrey Schloesser’s comments come amid concern in Washington and Islamabad that the build up of 21,000 additional US forces in Afghanistan may push the Taliban into Pakistan, further destabilising the border region in that country.

The Obama administration has declared eliminating Taliban havens in Pakistan vital to its goals of defeating Al Qaeda and winning the war in Afghanistan. Fighters have historically moved back and forth across the border to back Taliban insurgencies in both countries.

But Schloesser’s remarks suggested a larger transfer into Pakistan than has been seen previously, as the fighting between Pakistan’s troops and the Taliban has intensified.

He suggested that most of the movement in the past had been from Pakistan into Afghanistan, calling the new development “an interesting movement backward”.

He did not provide details or numbers of those heading toward Pakistan. ap

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