Taliban 'growing in strength and influence'

Fighting in rugged southern Afghan mountains killed at least 24 militants and five Afghan forces yesterday, while the US military acknowledged that the Taliban have grown in “strength and influence” in recent weeks.

The violence came after a week of some of the deadliest violence since the Taliban regime’s ouster in 2001. As many as 336 people have died, mostly militants, according to Afghan and coalition figures.

The Afghan military commander for southern Afghanistan, Gen. Rehmatullah Raufi, said up to 60 rebels had died in the latest fighting late Tuesday in Uruzgan province, which involved ground forces and a US airstrike. The US-led coalition, however, said 24 militants had died.

It was not immediately clear why there was a discrepancy in the numbers, which were impossible to confirm independently because the scene of the fighting was remote and insecure.

The fighting erupted after militants hiding in a mountain compound in a small village in Tirin Kot district fired small-arms, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars at a joint Afghan-coalition patrol late on Tuesday, according to two separate US military statements.

The troops fought back for six hours, forcing the militants to retreat before they tried to bring in reinforcements from two nearby compounds, the statements said.

The forces then called in air support. American bombers and unmanned Predator aircraft, along with French and British fighter jets, dropped bombs and fired rockets at the militants.

Beside the troops and police killed, six Afghan soldiers and three police were wounded, one of the statements said.

In the past year, Uruzgan’s largely inaccessible mountains have been the site of some of the heaviest fighting, but militants suffered high losses in multiple battles with coalition forces, and the violence there had subsided in recent months.

Uruzgan was one of three southern provinces where US military spokesman Col. Tom Collins said the insurgents have bolstered their numbers.

“We know for a fact that in recent weeks they have grown in strength and influence in some parts of Kandahar, Helmand and Uruzgan,” he told a press conference in Kabul. ”There is a hardcore group of Taliban fighters, certainly numbering in the hundreds.”

He said the militants are recruiting poor villagers.

“They prey upon people who don’t have a lot of hope. They recruit people to join their cause,” he said. “These people may not believe much in the cause, but they need a job.”

Meanwhile, most European Union aid for Afghanistan has been earmarked for humanitarian purposes or to pay the salaries of government officials, which leaves vital reconstruction projects underfunded, a top European Union official said yesterday.

Francesc Vendrell, special EU representative for Afghanistan, said 40% of the 1 billion dollar annual EU contribution has gone for relief and 20% for salaries.

These outlays meet “an essential need, but are not visible”, Vendrell told reporters after consultations with senior State Department and National Security Council officials.

Much of the $400m (€313m) spent on reconstruction were earmarked for roads and other long-term infrastructure projects.

The Spanish diplomat suggested that the money might have been spent better on “quick impact” projects that would have provided more visible evidence to Afghan citizens that the country was overcoming the devastation left by 25 years of warfare.