Forward Operating Base Sharana, Afghanistan – The incoming commander of U.S. troops in Afghanistan said Monday that he expects Taliban militants to launch more suicide attacks this year than in 2006, when militants set off a record 139 such bombings.
Maj. Gen. David M. Rodriguez, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, said military leaders expect an increase in all kinds of attacks as the weather gets warmer.
“We’re expecting an increase in the suicide bombers and some of the other tactics that they have believed are successful,” he said.
Rodriguez traveled to the eastern province of Paktika next to the Pakistan border on Monday. Paktika Gov. Mohammed Akram Akhpelwak told him that Taliban militants have bases across the border in Pakistan and that he hopes U.S. forces can help stop the flow of fighters crossing into Paktika.
The Taliban last year launched a record number of attacks, and about 4,000 people, most of them militants, died in insurgency-related violence, according to a tally by The Associated Press based on reports from Afghan, NATO and coalition officials.
Suicide attacks in 2006 totaled 139, up from 27 in 2005, according to U.S. military numbers. NATO has said suicide attacks last year killed 206 Afghan civilians, 54 Afghan security personnel and 18 soldiers from NATO’s International Security Assistance Force.
