UN warns against expecting lull in rebel attacks in Afghanistan

The UN special envoy for Afghanistan warned Tuesday not to expect a lull in attacks by Taliban rebels and al Qaeda extremists this winter as was the case in previous years. Briefing the UN Security Council on the latest developments in the strife-torn country, Kai Eide confirmed a "deteriorating (security) situation in last few months."
"In July and August, we witnessed the highest number of insecurity incidents since 2002," he said, with attacks up 40 percent compared with the same period last year. He cited a decrease in attacks last month during the holy Muslim month of Ramazan but quickly added: "We now see an increase again in the number of incidents and we must expect that this number ... will continue to climb further over the next weeks."
In this regard, Eide noted that the insurgents had spread their influence of insurgents beyond the traditional areas in southern and the eastern Afghanistan. He also pointed to a hike in "asymmetric (unconventional warfare) attacks (by insurgents), some of them very sophisticated" and to more "and sometimes deadly attacks against aid-related and humanitarian targets, including against NGOs (non-governmental organisations) and UN personnel."
"We should not expect the same winter lull in the level of hostilities that we have experienced in past winters," Eide noted, while cautioning against "gloom-and-doom statements." He highlighted three positive developments: improved relations between Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan, last Saturday's government reshuffle in Kabul with the appointment of an interior minister committed to rooting out corruption and a 19 percent drop in output in opium producing regions.
Afghanistan is the world's leading producer of opium and trafficking is a major income earner for the Taliban. As to talks of reconciliation between Kabul and the Taliban, Eide said: "I have always believed that a solution to the conflict in Afghanistan will depend on a continued and robust presence of military forces but that the solution in itself ultimately will be a political solution."
There are about 70,000 international troops in Afghanistan, most of them deployed under the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to help Kabul fight the increasingly bloody insurgency from Taliban and suspected al Qaeda militants.