Afghanistan's Taleban rebels are not a spent force despite their failure to disrupt the weekend's parliamentary vote and will continue attacks into next year, a top US general said Thursday.
"I'm not ready to sign up to the fact that Taleban are crumbling," General Jason Kamiya, second in command of the 20,000 strong US-led force in the country, told reporters at Bagram Airbase.
"There still will be an enemy insurgency next spring," he added.
US and Afghan officials said at the beginning of the year that the Taleban's days as a threat were numbered, but militant-related violence since then has made this the bloodiest year since the Taleban were toppled in 2001.
Although the rebels failed to carry out any major attacks on polling day Sunday, Kamiya said the Taleban would keep up their attacks throughout Ramazan, which begins October 4, and beyond.
"The Taleban had the intent to disrupt the elections, but not the capability," he said. "They realised that the Afghan constitution, then the presidential elections then the election of parliament was one more nail in the coffin."
Kamiya's comments came two days after the US military commander in Afghanistan, General Karl Eikenberry, also warned of more bloodshed in coming weeks. This year has also been the deadliest for US troops in the country, with over 50 being killed by hostile fire.
But while Taleban fighters were increasing their intimidation in villages, posting threatening night letters to win new recruits, there were signs that the militia were fracturing as a fighting force, Kamiya said.
"There is intent to co-ordinate actions in east and south, but we see signs of fractures between moderates and those who want to stick with jihad (holy war)," he said.
"We see signs of young fighters questioning the leaders... Mullah Omar's support is beginning to fracture," he said, referring to fugitive Taleban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.
Kamiya also dismissed reports that Afghanistan has been infiltrated by foreign fighters who were transferring skills from Iraq. "We've seen no evidence in Afghanistan to support the fact that foreign fighters operate in Afghanistan," he added.
Kamiya hit back at President Hamid Karzai's attack on US military policies this week, after Karzai said the US should not enter Afghan homes to search for suspects and should curb its use of airstrikes. Kamiya said the US was doing everything it could to avoid civilian casualties and restricted its use of airstrikes accordingly and had stepped up co-operation with Afghan security forces to reduce the number of US troops searching Afghan houses.
"There's not indiscriminate use of military power, (and we're doing as many verifications as we can) before give a lethal effect to people," he added.