Cheney Meets Pakistan and Afghan Leaders on Secret Trip

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Feb. 26, 2007 — -- Vice President Dick Cheney made a surprise trip to Pakistan and Afghanistan today to press for help in the war on terror.

The trip comes as Afghan President Hamid Karzai and U.S. and coalition forces prepare for a major new "spring offensive" against Taliban militants.

In Afghanistan, Cheney was to meet with U.S. military officials but a subsequent meeting with Karzai was rescheduled, due to bad weather.

The trip had been a closely guarded secret.

Because of security concerns, reporters traveling with Cheney were asked not to report on the trip until Cheney was on the ground in Afghanistan.

Since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001, Taliban insurgents have launched their heaviest attacks in the springtime, as the harsh winter subsides and the snows melt.

A top Taliban commander recently warned that this year's spring offensive would be the deadliest yet.

"This year will prove to be the bloodiest for the foreign troops. It is not just a threat. We will prove it," a Taliban commander named Mullah Dadullah told Reuters last week.

This year U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan are vowing their own "spring offensive" and have added additional firepower to take the fight to the Taliban.

There are now 35,000 NATO forces in Afghanistan, including 27,000 U.S. troops, the largest U.S. military presence ever in Afghanistan. Britain and Australia also plan to send additional troops.

Often overshadowed by the war in Iraq, violence in Afghanistan has steadily increased over the last year.

There was a fivefold increase in suicide bombings in 2006. Karzai has blamed Pakistan for allowing terrorists to conduct attacks from Pakistani territory, an accusation Pakistan bitterly denies.

But U.S. officials agree with Karzai that Taliban and al Qaeda militants have found a safe haven in the largely ungoverned tribal areas of western Pakistan.

Before coming to Afghanistan, Cheney went to Pakistan, where he urged President Pervez Musharraf to take action against terrorists operating on Pakistani territory.

Earlier today, Cheney was in Pakistan to meet with Musharraf to urge Pakistan to take more forceful action against terrorists operating near the border with Afghanistan.