US plans to bolster Afghan government with big hike in spending

THE United States plans to increase spending significantly in Afghanistan in a show of support for President Hamid Karzai, a US administration official said yesterday.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, on a tour of Iraq and Afghanistan, flew into Kabul to offer public backing for Mr Karzai and to visit American troops and Nato-led peacekeepers.

Mr Rumsfeld visited an 80-member team of US troops stationed at Gardez, in eastern Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan. The troops are fighting anti-American forces and helping with reconstruction projects in the area.

Assad Wafa, the regional governor, thanked the secretary for his visit to Paktia province. "I hope with your help and support there will be prosperity and security all across the country," he said.

Mr Karzai's government is battling a resurgent Taliban and working to diminish the influence of regional warlords. Fighting between Afghan and US forces and Taliban guerrillas in the past month has left four American troops dead.

More than 100 Taliban fighters have been killed since August 30, a US military spokesman said. The latest raid came last Saturday night and involved American aircraft, he said.

The United States wants to shore up Mr Karzai's government, which was installed after the 2001 American invasion ousted the ruling Taliban.

About 9,000 American troops remain stationed in Afghanistan, hunting down Taliban and al-Qaida fighters and helping to rebuild the country. Another 5,000 troops under Nato command serve as peacekeepers in Kabul.

Meanwhile, pamphlets urging Afghans to wage holy war against US forces have been circulated by the ousted Taliban militia in southwestern Afghanistan and Pakistan's adjoining tribal areas.

Pamphlets, written in Pushto, have been distributed by an organisation named Al-Omar Nashriati Markaz (Broadcast Centre) and call upon local Muslims to wage a 'holy war' against the United States, Jews and coalition forces in Afghanistan, according to a local journalist.

Residents of Miran Shah, a remote Pakistani town near Afghanistan's southwest Paktia province, said the pamphlets had been circulated by the ousted Taliban militia.

The pamphlets carry a picture showing a US soldier frisking a young Afghan girl and question how Muslims can tolerate such treatment of Muslim women.

"The coalition forces are not interested in the welfare of Afghan people, but they are distributing dollars to spread obscenity and corrupt their morals," the pamphlets said. Rejecting the forthcoming elections, the pamphlets said the United States could never create peace in Afghanistan.