Three News Reports That Paint A Difficult Time Approaching For Afghanistan And Its Allies

A US Army "gunner" looks over the landscape of Afghanistan between Kabul and Bagram in mid March. At least 15 people including civilians have been killed in northwestern Pakistan in a raid involving gunship helicopters used by international troops in Afghanistan, security officials have said. (AFP/Paul J. Richards)

More Troops Needed In Afghanistan: US Commander
-- Yahoo News/AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A top US commander said Friday he needs more troops to counter growing insurgent violence in Afghanistan amid signs the rebels are preparing for a winter campaign for the first time.

"I do believe that the level of significant activities, maybe violence, will be higher than any previous winter since 2002," said Major General Jeffrey Schloesser in a video teleconference from Afghanistan.

"I would say definitely they're looking for an opportunity to try to attempt what we would call spectacular attacks like we've seen from time to time in Kabul and other cities, such as in Khost," he said.

Schloesser's comments came as President George W. Bush considered recommendations from the Pentagon that would send about 4,500 additional US troops to Afghanistan by early next year, including an army brigade that had been slated to go to Iraq.

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File photo shows Canadian soldiers on patrol in Kandahar province in Afghanistan. Canada has announced that the death of three soldiers in an insurgent attack has brought it closer to the symbolic 100 dead since the start of its mission in 2002. (AFP/File/Shah Marai)

NATO Officer Sees Tough Winter In East Afghanistan -- Reuters

WASHINGTON, Sept 5 (Reuters) - NATO's commander in eastern Afghanistan said on Friday that his manpower-strapped military force could be heading into the worst winter of insurgent activity since 2002, soon after the battle of Tora Bora.

U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Schloesser, who also commands the 101st Airborne Division, said attacks across Afghanistan's eastern tier have been running 20 percent to 30 percent above last year's levels overall through August.

That is down from a 40 percent surge in attacks in the same region during the spring. But the latest numbers still reflect an intensified insurgency that has deepened U.S. security concerns about Afghanistan.

"A slow win, I guess, is what we're accomplishing," Schloesser said of NATO's efforts to thwart insurgents in the 48,000-square-mile (125,000-sq-km) area known as Regional Command-East.

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Afghan poor men wait, prior to breaking their fast, with food provided by the Mobile Telecommunication Network (MTN), at the Pul-e- Khashty's mosque, during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan in the city of Kabul, Afghanistan on Friday, Sept. 5, 2008. Muslims across the world refrain from eating, drinking and smoking from dawn to dusk during Ramadan. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)

Afghans Fed Up With Government, US -- Yahoo News/AP

GHANI KHIEL, Afghanistan - The bearded, turbaned men gather beneath a large, leafy tree in rural eastern Nangarhar province. When Malik Mohammed speaks on their behalf, his voice is soft but his words are harsh. Mohammed makes it clear that the tribal chiefs have lost all faith in both their own government and the foreign soldiers in their country.

Such disillusionment is widespread in Afghanistan, feeding an insurgency that has killed 195 foreign soldiers so far this year, 105 of them Americans.

"This is our land. We are afraid to send our sons out the door for fear the American troops will pick them up," says Mohammed, who was chosen by the others to represent them. "Daily we have headaches from the troops. We are fed up. Our government is weak and corrupt and the American soldiers have learned nothing."

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