As much as 80 percent of insurgent attacks and violence in Afghanistan is now happening in the country's southern region, a senior U.S. commander said Wednesday. Major General Michael Tucker told Pentagon reporters the insurgents have pushed south to avoid military and police in border regions and elsewhere in eastern Afghanistan. In the south, “we're at a stalemate,” Tucker said in a 35-minute videoconference from Afghanistan. “We just simply do not have enough forces to address the needs of the people down there to set the conditions for governance to take hold,” Tucker said. “So the enemy, obviously, is taking advantage of that posture that we're certainly going to address here very shortly.” About 21,000 U.S. soldiers are heading to Afghanistan over the next few months to help secure the south.
