The outgoing commander of the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan told Hawai'i lawmakers yesterday that increased fighting last year, there will be more intense fighting in southern and eastern parts of the country this spring and summer.

But Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry said he was confident the U.S. and its allies would succeed in ensuring Afghanistan becomes a stable, democratic country that can protect and secure itself.

"There is no problem out there, there is no set of problems out there, that is so daunting that we should not be absolutely confident of success," he told legislators at the Capitol. "We will prevail in Afghanistan, if we have time, if we have patience, if we have commitment."

If the U.S. abandons the country before winning, though, Eikenberry said, "this enemy will follow us to our homeland again."

Eikenberry spoke during a stop in the Islands before he heads to his next post as deputy chairman of the NATO military committee in Belgium. Senate President Colleen Hanabusa said lawmakers decided to use the opportunity of his presence to invite him to speak about Afghanistan.

President Bush, speaking at the American Enterprise Institute on Thursday, noted the progress that's been made in the country. He said that Eikenberry "served with distinction."

"In 2001, Afghanistan was a totalitarian nightmare — a land where girls could not go to school, where religious police roamed the streets, where women were publicly whipped, where there were summary executions in Kabul's soccer stadium and terrorists operated freely," Bush said.

"Today, five short years later, the Taliban have been driven from power, al-Qaida has been driven from its camps and Afghanistan is free," Bush added.

Eikenberry said the country still struggles with drug trafficking, corruption and the resurgence of the Taliban.

But against that expected resurgence, the general said, he has more confidence than ever about the ability of Afghan forces, NATO and U.S. troops to prevail.

There is a much stronger military presence in the south and southeast. Helmand province last year had about 150 U.S. soldiers, he said. Now, there are more than 3,000 British soldiers.

Military authority transferred to NATO control last year, "and the enemy tried to exploit that transition," Eikenberry said. But NATO now is "much better prepared and much better set for this coming year."

About 27,000 U.S. forces are in Afghanistan, about half under NATO control. One of the biggest threats, he said, was the possibility voters could start to question the legitimacy of the democratically elected government of President Hamid Karzai amid all the difficulties.

Perhaps most critically, however, Eikenberry said, the U.S.-led effort to keep Afghanistan democratic, stable and free of terrorists needs Pakistan's help if it is to succeed.

Military officials say Taliban fighters are increasingly flowing across the border from havens in Pakistan to launch attacks in Afghanistan.

Eikenberry was the Pacific Command's director for strategic planning and policy, based out of Camp H.M. Smith in 2004-2005.

Several years earlier, he was assistant commander of the 25th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks. There, he had the tough task of convincing local residents to allow soldiers to train in Makua Valley, a sacred space for Native Hawaiians.

In a sign of the good will he generated in that job, William Aila, the head of Malama Makua — a Wai'anae Coast group that sued to stop Makua training — chanted a Hawaiian prayer of greeting for Eikenberry and his wife, Ching, at the Capitol yesterday.

Hanabusa, whose district includes Makua, praised Eikenberry for listening to the people of the Wai'anae Coast and respecting them despite differences of opinion.

"This is what it means to be successful in the context of Hawai'i and in the context of our unique multiculture," Hanabusa said.