NATO says no Afghan noose, election the test

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Afghanistan's presidential election next year will be the critical test of the battle against the Taliban, NATO's top military official said on Tuesday, rejecting reports that the militants are gaining a stranglehold on the country.

Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola conceded that the intensity of insurgent activity more than seven years after U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban government was worrying and unexpected.

"It is true the situation is a situation of concern, because in the end the opposing militant forces ... have demonstrated more resilience than probably one could have thought or imagined," the Italian officer told a news briefing.

"But still the security situation is not as bleak, as doomy and gloomy, as the press depict," he said.

Di Paola rejected a report this month by the International Council on Security and Development think tank that said the Taliban had a permanent presence in 72 percent of Afghanistan and were "closing a noose" around the capital Kabul.

If militants planted a roadside bomb it did not mean they controlled the territory on which it was placed, he said.

"Kabul is not strangulated," he said. "I don't want to say it's all rosy ... the Taliban certainly have shown a resilience, but still they are not doing what is reported."

Di Paola said the "critical" test for the international effort in Afghanistan, involving more than 60,000 troops from more than 40 nations, would be the presidential election next year.

"We will see. If the election will be held and will be reasonably secure ... that means they are not strangulating us."

"PIECE OF CAKE"

The process of election registration in the north, east and part of the west had so far been "smooth -- easy as a piece of cake," and the test would be how this went in the provinces bordering Pakistan worst troubled by insurgents.

"It is clear ... if there is one event the other side would like to disrupt, clearly it is the election. It is in the interest of them to disrupt this -- we will see."

With the United States planning a troop surge like that seen in Iraq to boost election security, Di Paola said European allies also needed to commit more forces, both to hold territory and to train Afghan security forces.

"We need to support very much the electoral process."

Di Paola played down recent militant attacks on NATO's main supply route via Pakistan and a statement by that country's main truckers' association that it had stopped sending goods from the country's main port in Karachi.

He said the commander of the NATO-led forces in Afghanistan had said the route was still open and safe. "For the moment the supplies are passing, otherwise, if this should not be the case in the future, certainly ... this would be an issue of concern."

Di Paola noted assurances by Pakistan's army that keeping the route open was in the interests of Pakistan and said it was also in the interests of the truck associations. "They are getting very good money out of that," he said.

Nevertheless, NATO was continuing talks with Afghanistan's neighbors on alternative routes into the north of the country, which involved transit via Uzbekistan or Turkmenistan.

"The agreements need to be done. The work is in progress."

"No military commander wants to rely on a single line of communication. The more you have the better it is."