KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan guerrillas are still launching attacks from the safety of neighboring Pakistan despite the Pakistani military's battle against Islamic militants, a U.S. army officer said on Monday. Afghan government and U.S. military accusations that Taliban and other Islamic militants are able to operate from Pakistan have angered Pakistan, a U.S. ally which has been trying to clear militants from its western border region. "My base, where I live, is in Khost province, and I will say, absolutely, there are insurgents coming across the border from Pakistan attacking into Khost, then returning back into Pakistan," Colonel Gary Cheek told a news conference. Cheek is commander of about 4,000 U.S.-led troops in 16 eastern Afghan provinces, including Khost.
He commended the Pakistani military for operations, launched more than a year ago, to clear militants from the rugged Waziristan region bordering Afghanistan, fighting in which hundreds of Pakistani servicemen have been killed and wounded. "The Pakistani army has done a considerable amount of operations in the Waziristan area and I think they've had a dramatic impact on insurgent activity," he said. "Of course, it still goes on, and we would support greater and more operations by the Pakistani military but it would be wrong of me to be critical of their contributions to the fight."
A rash of bloody clashes in recent weeks have dispelled speculation the rebels might be running out of recruits and resources but Cheek said the rebels were getting weaker. "I would characterise our enemies as significantly weaker than they were a year ago and their influence continues to wane," he said. "Much of the enemy contact we see is limited to the border." Cheek said recent battles were a result of more aggressive patrolling by his men and greater involvement by the fledgling Afghan army, not because of any fresh insurgent offensive.
"The most significant thing that is driving the increase in enemy contacts is the coalition forces," he said. "I would not give credit to the enemy -- that he has orchestrated some grand offensive. I would say we are after him, and that's where a majority of the contacts are coming from." "We are dispersed in a far greater number of areas than we were a year ago," Cheek said.
In the latest violence, two Afghan soldiers were killed and five wounded when their vehicle hit a mine in the southern province of Zabul at the weekend.
Cheek said he was hopeful a government amnesty offer to rank-and-file Taliban members would contribute to peace. President Hamid Karzai has several times offered an amnesty to insurgents and while several Taliban members have given up in recent months there has been no sign that defections are blunting the insurgency.