| The measure of our success -- and Perv's failure. |
The number of Pakistanis fleeing to eastern Afghanistan to avoid violence in their country has risen to about 10,000 in recent weeks, a US military official said on Tuesday. Commanders had reported last month that the number was only between 300 and 400 families. But Col Jeffery Johnson, the US command surgeon in eastern Afghanistan, said thousands more had crossed over the border and been taken into the health care systems in Khost and Paktika provinces. “That was really a response to some of the turmoil that was taking place inside of Pakistan and the people there understood that their lives potentially could be better if they were in Afghanistan,” Johnson told a Pentagon press conference via video hookup from Afghanistan.
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Violence also has increased in Pakistan over months of political upheaval, including unrest leading to parliamentary elections that could threaten the rule of President Pervez Musharraf. |