Afghans worried by Haqqani offensive

Tribal leaders near the Afghan border with Pakistan said the recent push against regional insurgent groups would put them in the cross hairs. "People started worrying when the Americans announced that they would shift the war from the south to the southeast of Afghanistan," Haji Gulab Mangal, a tribal leader in the eastern Afghan district of Musa Khail, told the McClatchy News Service in a telephone interview. NATO and Afghan forces said Monday they ramped up operations against the Haqqani network, a group aligned with the Taliban. Other local authorities said that, with Haqqani thought to be entrenched on the Pakistani side of the border, local civilians would get caught in crossfire between fighting forces. The Haqqani network has taken center stage in the conflict in Afghanistan after its fighters were suspected of launching a 20-hour siege on Western targets in Kabul. U.S. officials said they had reason to believe the Pakistani intelligence agency was working with the militant group. The group was also believed to have played a role in last month's assassination of former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani, the leader of a Taliban reconciliation council. Haqqani officials denied the allegations, though the U.S. claims have strained Pakistani and U.S. relations.