Jeffrey J. Schloesser: Rebel Quell

As the new commander of NATO's 22,000, mostly American, troops working in Eastern Afghanistan, U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Jeffrey J. Schloesser could hardly have a tougher assignment. His men are responsible for guarding against insurgent attacks through the long, porous Pakistan border, where Al Qaeda-linked Taliban and other extremists enjoy safe havens. Meanwhile, they're also trying to build civil society with Afghanistan's fledgling security forces. He talked about the challenges by telephone with NEWSWEEK's Ron Moreau. Excerpts:

MOREAU: What do you make of reports that insurgents ' cross-border attacks and infiltration into Afghanistan from Pakistan have increased in the past few months?
SCHLOESSER: I am deeply concerned that there appears to be a fair number of cross-border incidents that both bring tension to the border and also obviously require border operations on the part of Coalition forces here in Afghanistan. That drives us [away] from what I am trying to do, which is to give security to the people of Afghanistan and help the Afghan people develop and strengthen local governance.

What about reports of an uptick in Pakistanis and Afghan Taliban crossing the border from Pakistani havens to fight with Taliban?
The insurgents we see coming across the border are a diverse lot. It's not just the conservative, Kandahar-based Taliban. You can say they share a common ideology, but sometimes even that is unclear. There seems to be a strong degree of cooperation [among them]. Some help with financing, some with facilitation to help them get across and also move weapons across the border. Others help train and recruit fighters not only within Pakistan but elsewhere. I would not want to call this a large or organized movement. These are largely smaller insurgent groups and terrorists from different regions.

Some experts have warned that Afghan and Coalition forces are not winning in Afghanistan. How would you describe your biggest challenge?
We are working very closely with the Afghan national security forces and achieving a great deal of success in security, governance and development. But my daily concern is the [unstable] border region that seems to add tension between the Afghans and the Pakistanis and Coalition forces. We are all really fighting the same enemy. I have to spend a lot of time addressing those issues along the border.

The Taliban seems to have suffered heavy casualties over the past year, including a lot of midlevel commanders. Is the insurgency now a weakened force?
I would acknowledge that they have lost a large number of leaders. I do believe they have a capacity to replace the leadership that is either captured or killed with new leaders who are fairly agile in re-establishing the network and what their predecessor was doing.

The American military seems to have been successful in bringing tribal insurgents in Iraq over to the Coalition ' s side. Are you trying that in Afghanistan, too?
We concentrate on working with tribal leaders who are legitimate in the eyes of the people and those who have been appointed by the government at the district and provincial level. We believe that's culturally accurate, because the tribal leaders and the mullahs have positions of authority that go back hundreds of years. We have an elected government at the highest level and an appointed government in the provinces, and that's a good mix. Those are the Afghans we are concentrating on.