Taliban still fighting in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON: American commanders say the Taliban is a viable resistance force in Afghanistan even three years after the Islamic radicals fell, but the U.S. military's fight to undermine their influence and bring stability is showing signs of progress.

The assessment follows a stretch in which U.S. troops in Afghanistan have been killed at a higher rate than those in Iraq, where there are about eight times as many American soldiers and where the situation is widely perceived as more dangerous.

Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai, plans to meet President George W. Bush at the White House on Monday. It will be his first Washington visit since his inauguration in December as Afghanistan's first democratically elected president.

Combat in Afghanistan has intensified in recent weeks, as expected, after a winter lull. U.S. commanders, however, say they think their plan for improving security _ including the expansion of Afghan army, border patrol and police forces _ is on track.

Brig. Gen. Greg Champion, a deputy commander of Combined Joint Task Force 76, said in a telephone interview Friday from his headquarters at Bagram airfield that the recent increase in insurgent violence was due mainly to a more aggressive approach by American and Afghan forces.

"We have not taken a posture of waiting'' for the Taliban to begin their usual spring offensive, he said. Instead, U.S. and Afghan forces have been "going on our own offensive.''

Insurgent attacks continue, however.

Suspected Taliban militants gunned down six Afghan employees of a U.S.-funded anti-drug project in southern Afghanistan on Thursday.

Also, an Italian aid worker was kidnapped this past week in Kabul, the capital, adding to the fears of relief groups that are vital to the reconstruction effort.

The U.S. has about 16,700 troops in Afghanistan, with 22 allied nations contributing an additional 1,600. NATO operates a security force of about 8,000 international troops.

As a proportion of their total numbers, U.S. troops in Afghanistan recently have been dying at a slightly higher rate than in Iraq, where there are about 135,000 troops.

Since early March, 27 American military personnel have died in Afghanistan, according to Pentagon figures, or about 1.6 per 1,000; the latest death came from a bombing Saturday, with a purported Taliban spokesman claiming responsibility.

During the same time period in Iraq, at least 124 have died, a rate of about 0.9 per 1,000.

Karzai has said he will press Bush for a "strategic partnership'' with the U.S. encompassing long-term political, economic and military assistance.

He also is expected to request that Afghans detained at the detention center for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and at military jails in Afghanistan be turned over to Afghan authorities.

Bush has not set a timetable for completing the military mission in Afghanistan, and U.S. commanders say they have no reliable data on the number of Taliban fighters still in the resistance.

Champion said the militants are comprised of more than just the Taliban. They also include smaller elements like the Hizb-I Islami Gulbuddin, or HIG, an Islamic extremist group founded by Gulbuddin Hikmatyrar, an Afghan who ran terrorist training camps in the 1990s.

The HIG operates mainly in eastern Afghanistan along and across the Pakistan border.

Also fighting U.S. and Afghan government forces are smaller numbers of what Champion called al-Qaida followers, predominantly Afghans. Champion said there are few non-Afghan fighters.

The U.S. strategy has been to develop an Afghan army, border patrol and police force that can handle the insurgents, while encouraging the central government to expand its authority outside of Kabul as the international community plays a bigger role developing the economy.

In an indication of the military's optimistic view, Gen. John Abizaid, the commander of all U.S. forces in the Middle East and Central Asia, said last week that an Army battalion of several hundred soldiers that was to deploy to Afghanistan this summer has been called off. Instead the unit will be on call in the United States in case of an emergency.

"We're pretty confident that we're moving in a good direction there,'' Abizaid said. The movement is not quick, however.

During a visit to Afghanistan in April, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was told by the top commander there at the time, Lt. Gen. David Barno, that the capabilities of the Afghan police ranged from "pretty good to extraordinarily bad.'' Barno also said that in some parts of the country the Taliban are still able to intimidate villagers enough to gain their tacit support.

George Joulwan, a retired four-star Army general and former NATO commander in Europe, said Friday that ultimate success will be determined by economic and political rebuilding, hunting down Osama bin Laden and other terrorist leaders on the Afghan-Pakistan border, and stamping out narcotrafficking in Afghanistan.

"You can't just look at the defeat of the Taliban,'' Joulwan said. - AP

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