U.S. & World News

WASHINGTON (AP) ― The Bush administration is confronting security troubles on multiple fronts: a deadly spike in violence in Afghanistan, a terror attack in Syria and a deteriorating situation in western Iraq.

The outbreaks brought fresh White House defenses of its counterterrorism policies, and new criticism from Democrats.

In a conflict President Bush calls a "struggle for civilization," the U.S. also found itself in the rare position of praising one of its usual terror-war villains: Damascus.

"Syrian officials came to the aid of the Americans" in foiling an attack on the U.S. Embassy there, White House spokesman Tony Snow said on Tuesday. He invited Syria "to become an ally" in the broader battle against terrorism.

In the past, the Bush administration has been highly critical of the tight control that the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad has over its people and its support for the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah and Palestinian militants.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also praised the work of Syrian security agents in repelling the attack. "I do think that the Syrians reacted to this attack in a way that helped to secure our people, and we very much appreciate that," Rice said at a news conference in Nova Scotia.

Islamic militants tried to storm the embassy using automatic rifles, hand grenades and a van rigged with explosives, the Syrian government said. Four people were killed in the attack, including three of the assailants, but no Americans. An al-Qaida offshoot group was suspected.

Meanwhile, Afghan forces killed 12 suspected Taliban militants in fierce fighting in southern Afghanistan while more than 40 suspected insurgents were detained as security forces fought back against a surge in violence.

Several southern provinces of Afghanistan are gripped by the deadliest spate of fighting since U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks for harboring al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. The scope of insurgency has prompted NATO commanders to ask for more troops.

Bush, in his prime time address to the nation on Monday marking the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, pledged anew to catch bin Laden.

Dan Benjamin, a national security analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the surge of violence in Afghanistan shows a familiar pattern. "It is clearly the case that tactics pioneered elsewhere, such as Iraq, particularly suicide bombing, have been taken up in Afghanistan," he said.

"There is no question that there is a global circuit now. Technology and strategy and tactics are being shared among different groups in different theaters," Benjamin added.

In an Iraq development, the senior commander of U.S. forces in western Iraq said on Tuesday that he might need reinforcements if his mission changed from training Iraqi security forces to defeating the insurgency.

Marine Maj. Gen. Richard C. Zilmer told reporters in a telephone interview from his headquarters in Fallujah that he has enough troops for now to do the training mission.

Zilmer said his mission was focused on developing the Iraqi security forces. "Now, if that mission statement changes — if there is seen a larger role for coalition forces out here to win that insurgency fight — then that is going to change the metrics of what we need out here."

His comments followed news reports about a classified report by the chief of intelligence for the Marines in western Anbar province, Col. Pete Devlin. Zilmer said he agreed with the report's assessment and did not dispute news reports that characterized Anbar as locked in a military stalemate with inadequate political progress.

Michael O'Hanlon, a foreign policy analyst at the Brookings Institution, said episodes like the increase in violence in southern Afghanistan, western Iraq and the bombing attempt in Syria show things are getting worse, not better. "It's an indictment on our long-term counterterror strategy that we haven't had any great success in reducing the long-term trends toward more terrorism," he said.

The administration is portraying the war in Iraq as the major front in the war on terror, a linkage that most Democrats and some Republicans don't embrace.

Democrats and Republicans traded accusations on Tuesday of politicizing the debate two months ahead of elections.

"I think that we had a wonderful opportunity last night to listen to the president bring the country together. He didn't do that," said Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, suggested Democrats were "more interested in protecting the terrorists than protecting the American people."

(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)