Taliban moving into Pak: Top US general

Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan: A top US general in eastern Afghanistan said he is seeing "some very interesting movement" of insurgents across the border into Pakistan this spring, possibly to join Taliban militants battling government troops.

Fighters from both nations have long moved back and forth across the porous frontier, a mountainous region that has been a sanctuary for both Al-Qaida and the Taliban.

But Major General Jeffrey Schloesser's remarks in an interview on Friday suggest a larger transfer into Pakistan than has been seen previously, as the fighting between Pakistan's troops and the Taliban has intensified.

There has been concern in Islamabad and Washington that the buildup of 21,000 additional US forces in Afghanistan may push Taliban militants into Pakistan, further destabilising the border region there.

The Obama administration has declared eliminating militant havens in Pakistan as vital to its goals of defeating Al-Qaida and winning the war in Afghanistan.

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Schloesser suggested that most of the movement in the past has been from Pakistan into Afghanistan, calling the new development "an interesting movement backward".

He did not provide details or numbers of those heading toward Pakistan.

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It is unclear to what extent the Taliban is moving to help militants in Pakistan or fleeing from US forces in Afghanistan.

Schloesser suggested that both factors could be at play.

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At the Pentagon, a senior US military official had cited concerns by Pakistani military chief General Ashfaq Kayani that the US troop buildup in Afghanistan has been pushing the Taliban into Pakistan over the last several months.

But the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to talk more candidly about the issue, downplayed the urgency of the situation and said there's plenty of time to plan for and deal with any Taliban migration if it comes.

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A second official said there's no intelligence or evidence to indicate a specific strategy by the Taliban to move back into Pakistan as a result of the recent fighting in the nation's northwest territories.

Most Taliban safe havens are in Pakistan, and US officials have for months pointed to its border with Afghanistan and Pakistan as a place where extremists have been able to move freely. The Taliban draws its strength from ethnic Pashtuns, who are a major constituency in the border region of both countries.

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Schloesser, who commands American troops in eastern Afghanistan, suggested that some of the current movement may be intended to reinforce Taliban fighters in Pakistan.

"I would suppose that some of that movement is fighters going back to help their insurgent groups that are involved in fighting, for example in Bajur or the fighting that is occurring in Buner or in the Dir area or potentially even in Swat," Schloesser said.