Rumsfeld arrives in Afghanistan amid rising violence

KABUL, July 11 (Reuters) Power vacuums in areas of southern Afghanistan where the government has little presence have contributed to rising Taliban violence more than three years into the US-led war, a senior US commander said today.

Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry said that while the Taliban is more organized than a year ago, it may not be stronger. Instead, Taliban fighters are benefiting from the lack of strong Afghan security forces to combat the insurgency, Eikenberry told reporters.

''It's important to remember that the areas the Taliban is operating in are areas that the government of Afghanistan has not heretofore had the strength and the presence. So it's not a question of the enemy being strong; it's very much a question of the institutions of the state of Afghanistan still moving slowing to stand up the Afghan security forces,'' he said.

Eikenberry's comments come as US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld arrived in Afghanistan on an unannounced visit a day after meeting with officials in neighboring Tajikistan.

Rumsfeld, on his 11th trip to the country, was set to discuss the escalating violence and plans for NATO to take over military operations in the southern part of the country this month.

That transition to NATO leadership is on track, Eikenberry said. Ultimately, NATO will take the military lead throughout Afghanistan.

Violence in Afghanistan, where operations are often overshadowed by fighting in Iraq, has grown this year, due in part to narcotics trade that American officials say is funding Taliban activities.

Defense Department officials regularly cite the role of Afghanistan's drug trade, much of which moves north through Tajikistan to markets in Russia and Europe, for the increase in violence.

Rumsfeld on this trip to the region has reiterated that view and yesterday dismissed arguments that the US military's focus on fighting in Iraq has allowed narcotics trafficking and violence to rise in Afghanistan.

The Afghan insurgency has adopted new tactics in its fight, making more use of the roadside bombs that have plagued US forces in Iraq, according to Eikenberry. But he said intelligence does not indicate that Iraqi fighters are migrating to the war in Afghanistan.

The US commander also said the source of violence in Afghanistan is more complex, involving not only Taliban forces but also drug traffickers, tribal disputes over territory and general ''criminality.'' ''The causes of violence in Afghanistan, and here we're talking particularly southern Afghanistan, the causes of violence are complex. It goes beyond extremist, militant Taliban fighters,'' he said.

REUTERS SB KP1048