KABUL, June 3: Despite a rise in insurgent violence this spring, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on Sunday he was convinced that American and Nato forces were making steady progress against the Taliban.
“I think actually things are slowly, cautiously headed in the right direction,” Mr Gates told reporters. “I’m concerned to keep it moving that way.”
He spoke during a flight to the Afghan capital from Singapore, where he attended a security conference. The Pentagon chief had urged Asian nations to provide more troops or other forms of support for Afghanistan.
For months, Mr Gates has expressed concern about possible reversals in Afghanistan, which still lacks a self-sustaining military and suffers from the unmet expectations of building an effective central government.
In the interview on Sunday, Mr Gates appeared more optimistic, though still sceptical, about maintaining momentum against the Taliban and overcoming the economic and political obstacles that have bedevilled Afghanistan for decades.
Gates arrived in an Air Force C-17 cargo plane for his second visit to Afghanistan since taking over at the Defence Department last December.
On his first trip, in January, he worried about Taliban incursions from havens inside Pakistan and said it appeared the Taliban were gearing up for a spring offensive.
Since then, levels of violence in Afghanistan have risen but the Taliban offensive has gained little of a foothold.
A senior defence official travelling with Mr Gates told reporters it was believed the Taliban had intended to target Kandahar, the southern city that was a stronghold before US forces invaded in October 2001, and to try to isolate certain portions of the main Afghan highway known as the ring road. The official discussed US analysis of recent trends in the conflict on condition of anonymity.
Mr Gates did not rule out that the Taliban could intensify their attacks this summer. Other officials have asserted that the radical Islamic movement is beginning to gain assistance from Iran, including weapons such as the new, more sophisticated roadside bomb known as an explosively formed projectile, or EFP.
In contrast to Mr Gates’ moderately optimistic comments about progress, a Washington think-tank said in a March study the overall situation has deteriorated. The Centre for Strategic and International Studies concluded, on the basis of interviews with hundreds of Afghans, that they are more insecure now than in 2005 when the centre did a similar study.
The study also said conditions had deteriorated in all important areas, including governance and justice, except for the economy and women’s rights.
“Restoring progress in Afghanistan requires dramatic changes,” the study concluded. “If a critical mass of Afghans experiences positive change, the negative trends are reversible. The year 2007 is the breaking point.”—AP
