CORRECTED-Afghan clashes up in 2008, but in fewer places-NATO

Tue Mar 11, 2008 3:41am EDT

(Corrects numbers of districts in third paragraph)

By Jon Hemming

KABUL, March 10 (Reuters) - NATO forces in Afghanistan have clashed more times with Taliban insurgents in the first two months of 2008 compared to last year, though fighting has occurred in fewer places, the alliance-led force said on Monday.

NATO says it is making progress against the Taliban, but analysts say there is stalemate on the ground that is eating into Western support for keeping troops in Afghanistan and pulling out foreign forces would hand the Taliban strategic victory.

In the first two months of 2008, there have been 595 armed clashes in 88 districts in Afghanistan, compared to 550 clashes in 101 districts in the same period last year, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.

The increase in clashes was due to greater activity by troops going after Taliban rebels, an ISAF spokesman said.

"It is indicative of the increasing activity on behalf of ISAF," said Captain Mike Finney. "We have been more active than we were last year and, in fact, insurgent activities have gone down because we are going out to get them ... rather than them coming to us."

Meanwhile, the United Nations said there had been fewer security incidents this year, compared to the same period in 2007.

"We have quite simply not seen that kind of decline ever in Afghanistan," the UN deputy special envoy to Afghanistan Christopher Alexander told a news conference. "It does not mean that Afghanistan is heading towards peace immediately, but it does mean that with hard work security can improve.

ISAF and the UN measure incidents in different ways, another ISAF spokesman said, and pointed to the figures which showed fighting had taken place in fewer districts as evidence of improving security.

NO FORESEEABLE END TO CONFLICT

But an organisation which monitors security for the dozens of non-governmental organisations said there had been a marked increase in Taliban attacks so far this year.

Data collected by the Afghanistan NGO Security Office (ANSO) said there had been a 39 percent increase in Taliban attacks until March this year compared to the same period in 2007.

The biggest increase had been in armed attacks rather than in suicide and roadside bombs, ANSO said, contradicting ISAF which has repeatedly said the Taliban are relying more on so-called asymmetric suicide and roadside bomb tactics due their inability to take on NATO and Afghan troops head on.

While there was a divergence in the figures, the perception among many Afghans and of Western public opinion is of a conflict still dragging on more than six years after U.S.-led and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban with no foreseeable end.

The United States is pressuring reluctant European allies to take a larger role in combating a resurgent Taliban in the more volatile south and east of the country, an issue expected to loom large at NATO's April 2-4 summit in Bucharest.

Canada has already threatened to pull its 2,500 troops from the southern province of Kandahar next year unless allies come up with 1,000 extra troops to support it.

Other NATO nations will also be looking for definite signs of progress by the end of this year before re-evaluating their role in Afghanistan, analysts and diplomats said. (Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

Comments (0)
This discussion is now closed. We welcome comments on our articles for a limited period after their publication.