WASHINGTON, May 10 (UPI) -- The Taliban is regrouping in the mountains of southern Afghanistan, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said Wednesday.
"We are winning, but the war is not yet won," said Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, Combined Forces Command- Afghanistan. "In northern Kandahar, in northern Helmand, and in Oruzgan ... it's fair to say the Taliban influence in certain areas is stronger than it was last year."
Eikenberry, speaking in a Pentagon briefing Wednesday, said the resurgence is not necessarily a result of the Taliban's inherent strength or appeal. It's the struggling Afghan government's inability to counter them.
"It's not necessarily the strong enemy, it's the very weak institutions of the state; that in that vacuum, in that weakness, then, you have Taliban influence able to move in there and, through coercion of the people then to assert that influence," Eikenberry said.
He said the increase in violence in southern Afghanistan compared to last year is not all attributable to a resurgent Taliban. Some of it is pure criminality, some is tribal, and some is narco-trafficking.
U.S. casualties, still low by the standard of the Iraq war, are nonetheless mounting in Afghanistan: Half of the 141 killed in action in the last four years were killed in 2005 alone. Eikenberry said the enemy has adopted the tactics insurgents use in Iraq: improvised explosive devices and suicide bombs. It is a response to the Taliban's drubbing by coalition forces last year when it massed large numbers of forces in southern Afghanistan.
"We were able to deliver in several instances of the course of the spring and the summer some very decisive defeats to those Taliban forces that had massed," Eikenberry said. "I think that the enemy's adapted to that now and is much more cautious about trying to mass forces. So a preferred tactic then is improvised explosive devices and suicide bombers."
He said he sees no direct link between Afghan fighters and the insurgents in Iraq. He believes the techniques were not carried from one theater to another by foreign fighters but rather by observation and the Internet.
"We have not seen conclusive evidence that there has been any migration from Iraq to Afghanistan of foreign fighters that are bringing with them skills or capabilities. On the other hand, we have seen a steady increase in the sophistication of IEDs, an increase in the sophistication of tactics, but these are the kind of techniques, these are the kind of skills that, very frankly, in today's information age can be gleaned from the Internet and be gleaned from Web pages and can be improved by a force that's operating against you over time as they continue to adapt their own tactics," he said.
Eikenberry said al-Qaida operatives are primarily operating in Pakistan, and while they offer training and technical support to Taliban and other violent actors in Afghanistan, they are not a significant part of the fighting force there.
"We have not seen any kind of significant foreign fighter presence within Afghanistan," Eikenberry said.
He said the Taliban fighters are carrying out an intimidation campaign against moderate religious and tribal leaders who support the Afghan state.
"We find the Taliban burning down schools and coercing in certain instances and districts the closure of schools," Eikenberry said. "That's what they fear, that building of the middle ground of Afghan society."
"A recent poll of Afghans showed that 80 percent see economic reconstruction, not security, as their number one need. To further enhance security and stability, the government of Afghanistan and the international community must work together to improve governance, the rule of law, economic infrastructure and social services," he said.
To that end, Eikenberry said the international community must provide Afghanistan with funding and aid for roads, power systems, water for irrigation, health clinics and schools.
"We've reached a point in the campaign where we will get more security dividends by helping the Afghan people to build that middle ground of civil society," he said. "Over the next several years, I believe that more must be done in terms of economic infrastructure development."
