Afghan insurgency spreads, attacks rise sharply

The insurgency in Afghanistan has spread beyond Taliban strongholds in the south and east while the number of attacks in the country has reached a six-year high, a top U.N. envoy confirmed Tuesday. Violence in Afghanistan this year is worse than at any time since U.S.-led and Afghan forces toppled the militant Islamist Taliban in 2001 and fears are growing that the West is losing the military campaign and the support of ordinary Afghans. "In July and August we witnessed the highest number of security incidents since 2002," U.N. special envoy to Afghanistan Kai Eide told the U.N. Security Council. It was a nearly 40 percent rise over the same period in 2007, he said. Eide said the insurgency has spread beyond the south and east and extended to provinces around Kabul. There has also been an increase in attacks on civilians, including aid-related and humanitarian personnel, he added. Afghanistan's U.N. Ambassador Zahir Tanin acknowledged that the situation has grown worse. "Despite hard work on the part of international coalition forces and Afghans alike, terrorism appears to be on the rise again," he told the council. "The Taliban burn down schools, stamp out reconstruction, and butcher civilians," Tanin said. "They attack roads and regions around Kabul, hampering international humanitarian relief. Ordinary people are increasingly their targets." British commander Brig. Mark Carleton-Smith told a British newspaper earlier this month that the war against the Taliban could not be won. His comments were widely reported.