Pakistan pushes Taliban into trap

Washington Times:

Pakistan's ongoing military offensive in its northwest tribal areas is chasing insurgents across the border, where they are being intercepted by a U.S.-Afghan security initiative, a U.S. commander says.

The level of violence over the past couple of months in the northeastern [Afghan] provinces of Kunar and Nuristan has risen significantly from the same period last year, and is expected to increase another 10 percent to 20 percent in the spring, largely because of the results of operations across the border in Pakistan´s Bajaur region, Army Col. John Spiszer told The Washington Times.

Although Pakistan's commitment to the campaign against militants has been questioned and some Pakistani troops are reported to have been redeployed to the country's eastern border with India, the Bajaur campaign was having an impact, Col. Spiszer said.

"Pakistani pressure... has denied [the insurgents] safe havens and led to more contact in Afghanistan," he said, adding that an increase of Afghan security forces in the region also has contributed to a rise in hostile engagements this winter. "And that´s not a bad thing."

Col. Spiszer said the trend is likely to continue as additional U.S. forces are deployed to help secure the mountainous terrain that divides the two countries.

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There is much more.

The importance of Pakistan's actions on the border should not be discounted. Most of the attacks on the supply line are an attempt to distract these forces from their job of denying the Taliban a sanctuary. Chasing them into Afghanistan is certainly no favor. The Taliban are running into even more hostile forces in Afghanistan.

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