Insurgent attacks along the Pakistan-Afghan border doubled in June over the previous year and foreign fighters have flowed into Afghanistan from the Middle East in greater numbers, a US commander said on Wednesday.
Major General David Rodriguez, the commander of a US task force operating in eastern Afghanistan, said the border attacks had subsided somewhat this month due to a Pakistani military offensive on the other side of the border.
"Last month it was about double what it was a year ago the same month, the same time last year," he said referring to the cross border attacks.
"It has decreased a little in the past month here, mainly again because of the Pakistani military operation being conducted at the present time," he said.
The military has engaged in heavy fighting in tribal areas along the border to put down unrest. The fighting also follows US intelligence warnings that al Qaeda is training and plotting new attacks on the west from safe havens in Pakistan's tribal areas. Rodriguez said al Qaeda was exerting an influence in Afghanistan as well, mainly by using its networks to bring foreign fighters into the country from Pakistan.