Afghan Violence 'Worst Since 2001'

Afghan violence 'worst since 2001' | al Jazeera

Violence in Afghanistan has spiked to its highest levels since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, the general in charge of US forces in the Middle East and Central Asia says.

General David Patraeus, the head of US Central Command, said the number of attacks in the country spiked to its highest point last week, and he predicted that the trend was very likely to continue.

"The past week was the highest level of security incidents in Afghanistan's history, at least that post-liberation history," Petraeus told a forum in Washington DC on Thursday.

"There are some tough months ahead. Some of this [violence] will go up because we are going to go after their sanctuaries and their safe havens as we must," he said.

Attacks soared by 59 per cent to 5,222 incidents from January to May, compared with 3,283 attacks in the first five months of 2008, according to US military officials and excerpts of a report by Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf). Read more.