Canadian soldiers track border-crossing insurgents
Updated Tue. Jun. 24 2008 10:24 PM ET CTV.ca News Staff
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Canadian soldiers have quietly walked across the Afghanistan-Pakistan border in a mountainous region dense with insurgents, to collect information from the Pakistani Army about suicide bombers and weapon smuggling.
Thousands of people cross between the two countries every day at the border community of Spin Boldak. Many often go unchecked and undetected.
The area is a critical trade route for the Taliban. According to intelligence officials, militants get sanctuary and training in Pakistan, and then cross into Afghanistan to attack NATO forces.
There has been a 40 per cent jump in the number of insurgent attacks in eastern Afghanistan this year, according to the U.S. military, and NATO countries are pressuring Pakistan to tighten the border.
Pakistan has assured NATO that it's tightening its grip on the area and may even build fences and lay mines at the most critical points.
U.S. Maj.-Gen. Jeffrey Schloesser told reporters in Washington on Tuesday there have been 40 deaths among uniformed and civilian coalition members in eastern Afghanistan since April.
He said the military is tracking insurgents, some of them Taliban members, who frequently move between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
This week, Afghan police captured two men from Pakistan who they accused of being would-be suicide bombers.
More on link
Updated Tue. Jun. 24 2008 10:24 PM ET CTV.ca News Staff
Article Link
Canadian soldiers have quietly walked across the Afghanistan-Pakistan border in a mountainous region dense with insurgents, to collect information from the Pakistani Army about suicide bombers and weapon smuggling.
Thousands of people cross between the two countries every day at the border community of Spin Boldak. Many often go unchecked and undetected.
The area is a critical trade route for the Taliban. According to intelligence officials, militants get sanctuary and training in Pakistan, and then cross into Afghanistan to attack NATO forces.
There has been a 40 per cent jump in the number of insurgent attacks in eastern Afghanistan this year, according to the U.S. military, and NATO countries are pressuring Pakistan to tighten the border.
Pakistan has assured NATO that it's tightening its grip on the area and may even build fences and lay mines at the most critical points.
U.S. Maj.-Gen. Jeffrey Schloesser told reporters in Washington on Tuesday there have been 40 deaths among uniformed and civilian coalition members in eastern Afghanistan since April.
He said the military is tracking insurgents, some of them Taliban members, who frequently move between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
This week, Afghan police captured two men from Pakistan who they accused of being would-be suicide bombers.
More on link
