The top US military commander in Afghanistan has said that the US has increased its surveillance over the Pak-Afghan border since Pakistan began pounding North Waziristan with airstrikes, but so far officials have not seen any militants fleeing the latest offensive.
Marine General Joseph Dunford said in an interview that the US was not coordinating military operations with Pakistan along the Pak-Afghan border, but officials have increased the amount of intelligence-sharing with the Afghans.
He said the Afghan troops and US forces in that region were ready for any effects of the strikes, including extremists seeking refuge in Afghanistan.
The US has long pressed Pakistan to root out Taliban militants who have found a haven in the lawless tribal region of North Waziristan, along the Afghan border, and used it as a staging area to launch attacks.
Dunford said officials have seen families crossing the border to escape the military airstrikes that have pounded NWA since Sunday.
“The Afghan forces as well as our forces are fully prepared to deal with the second-order effects of the operations in North Waziristan,” Dunford said in an interview from Afghanistan.
He added that officials were still trying to determine how many families have fled into Afghanistan to escape the violence, but it was difficult because many relocate to families in the southeast and northeast.
