Gates criticizes security along Pakistan’s border

KABUL, Afghanistan – Defense Secretary Robert Gates, on a visit to Afghanistan, said Tuesday that there had been a “significant increase” in cross-border attacks from Pakistan and hinted at recommending a troop increase, adding his voice to a chorus of U.S. and international officials who have begun taking Pakistan to task for harboring Islamic insurgents.

Gates praised Pakistan as a “strong American ally in the war on terror,” but he also said there was a “problem” in Pakistan’s border areas and that “al-Qaida networks are operating on the Pakistan side.”

Gates was the latest of several U.S. and U.N. officials to publicly raise the border issue after several years of international silence because of Pakistan’s cooperation in the hunt for al-Qaida fugitives.

U.S. military officials cited year-end statistics showing a sharp increase in insurgent attacks here, especially by the revived Taliban militia, and predicted a strong new surge of violence in the spring.

Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, the senior U.S. commander in Afghanistan, told journalists traveling with Gates that the number of suicide attacks had increased from 27 in 2005 to 139 in 2006, remotely detonated bombings more than doubled from 783 to 1,677, and armed attacks nearly tripled from 1,558 to 4,542.

The violence led to more than 4,000 deaths in Afghanistan last year. It was by far the bloodiest year in the country since 2001, when a U.S.-led invasion drove the Taliban from power.

Gates said he would be “strongly inclined” to recommend a troop increase if commanders believe it is needed, the Associated Press reported. Eikenberry said he wanted to extend the combat tours of 1,200 soldiers in Afghanistan, the news service reported. There are currently 24,000 American troops here under command of the NATO alliance or United States.