Kabul: Afghanistan's ousted Taleban and its allies are regrouping in parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan, a senior US commander has said.

"Several groups of fighters trained in Pakistan have crossed into Afghanistan and divided the Eastern part of the country into three zones for mounting attacks. They have occupied large areas of the territory," Major General F L "Buster" Hagenbeck was quoted as saying.

"A large number of Taleban fighters are coming back into Southern Afghanistan. We have a very robust intelligence feed out there, and we have a continuing strategy in which we will go to all the places that we need to track down the Taleban," London's 'Daily Telegraph' quoted Hagenbeck as saying.

Pakistan has done little to stop such Taleban activities, he said. "We will be taking up the issue of Taleban operating from Pakistan when General John Abizaid, the new commander of the US Central Command, visits Islamabad next week," he added.

Al-Qaida commanders who are establishing new cells and sponsoring the attempted capture of US troops in Afghanistan have joined these fighters. They are also running a campaign to recruit fighters from religious schools operating in Quetta.

Hagenbeck said intelligence given to him had revealed that "there are three groups made up of between 25 to 100 Taleban operating in Helmand (Southern Afghanistan) province, and they are facilitating the drugs trade".

Helmand is adjacent to Pakistan's Baluchistan province.

The statement assumes significance in the wake of alleged attacks by the Taleban on US and Afghan forces over the past few days.

ANI