WASHINGTON, Feb 14: A top US military commander has called for “steady and direct” attacks on Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan.

Lt-Gen Karl W. Eikenberry, the outgoing commander of the US forces in Afghanistan, warned that the Karzai government would suffer an irreversible loss of legitimacy among Afghanis if the internal situation did not improve.

“And this is a greater threat than the resurgent Taliban,” he told the House Armed Services Committee in Washington.

The general claimed that senior Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders have set up training camps and recruiting grounds in Pakistan’s tribal areas, which they use for carrying out attacks in Afghanistan.

Since September, when Pakistan signed a peace deal with tribesmen in North Waziristan, “the cross-border attacks have tripled,” he said.

“Al Qaeda and Taliban leadership presence inside Pakistan remains a very significant problem,” Gen Eikenberry told the committee, warning of the “growing threat of Talibanization” inside Pakistan.

He was supported by senior US lawmakers who also accused Pakistan of continuing to allow the Taliban extremists to operate freely in the tribal areas.

“The Taliban regularly ship arms, ammunition, and supplies into Afghanistan from Pakistan. Most suicide bombers came from Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan,” said Congressman Hank Johnson.

“Components for improvised explosive devices are often smuggled across the Afghan- Pakistan border,” he added.

“Speaking in private, knowledgeable US, Nato, Afghan, and UN officials are nearly unanimous in asserting that the Pakistani intelligence service continues to collaborate with the Taliban and other insurgent groups operating out of its border regions,” he claimed.