KABUL: Five years after US forces launched their offensive to oust Afghanistan’s Taliban, Shakeela Jan says she is happy to have the freedom to work but that she travels to her job every day in fear.

US-led forces routed the Taliban in weeks following the Oct. 7, 2001 launch of Operation Enduring Freedom. Five years later, the Islamists and their militant allies have mounted their most sustained campaign of violence.

Women were banned from working under the Taliban. Now, Jan works with a dozen other women in a Ministry of Communications call centre.

“We’re worried when we come to work. You can see how the situation is getting worse every day,” said Jan.

There have been 56 suicide attacks in Afghanistan so far this year compared with 17 the whole of last year. Dozens of people have been killed in blasts in Kabul over the past month.

“People have to have security where they live but there’s no security. How can we work and enjoy working outside our homes?” Jan asked.

About 40,000 foreign troops, half of them American, are in Afghanistan — the most since 2001. Fighting is largely confined to the countryside in the south and east. But bombers have struck across the country.

On Saturday a Nato soldier was killed in the south after his patrol was attacked by insurgents. Nearly 500 members of Nato and US-led forces have died in Afghanistan since 2001.

Gunmen also ambushed two German journalists travelling in northern Afghanistan, killing them both. Police said the two, a man and woman, were working on a documentary. The anniversary of the start of the US-led offensive is not being marked in Afghanistan. Most people are not aware of it.—Reuters