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| Rebels hide among families to enter Afghanistan: ISAF |
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Time is GMT + 8 hours
Posted: 20-May-2008 04:55 hrs |
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| An Afghan policeman stands guard near a house where security forces clashed with suspected Taliban rebels in Kabul in April 2008. Insurgents are crossing from Pakistan into Afghanistan, where attacks have spiked in recent weeks, hidden among hundreds of families that make the trip daily, the NATO force here said Monday. |
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Insurgents are crossing from Pakistan into Afghanistan, where attacks have spiked in recent weeks, hidden among hundreds of families that make the trip daily, the NATO force here said Monday.. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force is using a range of intelligence and surveillance systems to detect the rebels to thwart attacks along the eastern frontier, an ISAF spokesman told AFP.. "There is already a good ISAF presence along the border," General Carlos Branco told AFP, adding that the number of troops may have increased but this was not a dramatic rise or necessarily related to the steady increase in rebel activity.. "The border in Regional Command East is crossed daily by families whose members live in both sides," Branco said, referring to several eastern provinces where the insurgency is intense.. "The insurgents use these movements to disguise their activities and intentions.. "But to track their activity, ISAF has a wide range of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems available." he added.. NATO said in Brussels last week the level of attacks in Afghanistan from Pakistan -- where militants have bases -- was up in April by about 52 percent compared with the same period last year.. It urged Pakistan to improve security on the border, where Islamabad says it already has tens of thousands of troops stationed.. Pakistan's new government has also launched negotiations with Taliban militants based in its tribal belt along the border, a move that worries Afghan officials after a 2006 deal in Pakistan saw a spike in attacks in eastern Afghanistan.. Authorities meanwhile said a Pakistani national planning a suicide bombing was captured in the eastern province of Khost on Monday.. "A Pakistani national who was intending a suicide bombing was captured today in Khost," the interior ministry said in a statement. Two suicide vests the man was carrying were also seized, it said in a statement.. The Taliban, ousted from power in Afghanistan in late 2001 for harbouring Osama bin Laden, have been using Pakistan's lawless tribal belt to stage attacks in Afghanistan.. NATO has about 47,000 troops in the ISAF in Afghanistan, with the aim of spreading the rule of the central government and fostering reconstruction in the conflict-torn country. — AFP
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