WASHINGTON  – The chairman of the military Joint Chiefs of Staff says violence can be expected to rise in Afghanistan in the next few months as the United States increases its combat presence there.

Adm. Michael Mullen noted that 17,000 additional combat troops and 4,000 military trainers from the United States will soon be on the ground in the wartorn nation and said that ultimately they will have “the right impact.”

Interviewed Tuesday on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Mullen cautioned, however, that “the violence level in Afghanistan is going to go up.”

But he said security for the Afghan people is what’s missing right now, particularly in the southern part of the country.

Mullen, who just returned from a tour of the Asian nation, said he hopes the training of Afghans to protect themselves can be stepped up significantly in the next few months.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Lawmakers who get the first turn fashioning a state budget this year will hear from North Carolina’s education leaders about Gov. Beverly Perdue’s spending proposal.

The Senate Appropriations Committee scheduled a meeting Tuesday to listen to University of North Carolina system President Erskine Bowles, community college system President Scott Ralls and two leaders of the public schools.

Bowles has said proposed cuts in Perdue’s $21 billion budget released last week could mean several hundred UNC system positions may have to be eliminated. Perdue said she tried to protect education from deep cuts and gave the agencies flexibility in how to make spending reductions.

The Senate will propose and pass its own budget plan before sending it to the House, which will create its own version.