Europe must expect more casualties in Afghanistan-EU

BRUSSELS, July 19 (Reuters) Europeans must be ready for more losses and a long struggle as NATO takes over the fight against Taliban militants in southern Afghanistan, the EU special representative to the country today said on Wednesday.

Pakistan also needs to do more against Taliban militants operating from there, Francesc Vendrell told a news briefing in Brussels ahead of the formal takeover of responsibility by NATO in southern Afghanistan expected at the end of this month.

About 4,500 British and around 1,400 Dutch soldiers will be stationed in the south as part of NATO's takeover from a United States-led force.

''I am sure there will be attacks on them, we must realise that,'' Vendrell said. ''Public opinion should be prepared to realise that there will be losses.'' Vendrell said the Taliban appeared to see Europeans as a ''soft target'' who would lose heart and withdraw if they suffered too many losses. ''I think they are totally wrong, but that doesn't mean they will not try.'' British troops in the south have already suffered six deaths in fighting with Taliban guerrillas since June, when the force launched daily offensives in the face of a growing insurgency in the south.

Another, unidentified soldier was killed today, bringing the coalition toll to 65 this year.

Vendrell said there was ''no doubt'' Taliban guerrillas were able to use the territory of neighbouring Pakistan for operations in Afghanistan, though it was not clear whether the Pakistani government could fully control this.

''But we still should be asking Pakistan to do more to control Taliban elements, particularly in places which are not next to the border,'' he said.

Pakistani police said today they had arrested more than 200 suspected Afghan Taliban fighters in the last three days living in and around the southwestern city of Quetta in a crackdown ordered at the weekend.

It is very sensitive as the coalition running the region, Baluchistan, includes pro-Taliban Islamist parties.

MISTAKES MADE Vendrell said mistakes had been made in the international intervention that began with the Taliban's late-2001 overthrow. He highlighted past limitations in the role of peacekeepers and treating warlords as allies rather than as part of the problem.

There had been a tendency to claim success after only two years, whereas now there was a consensus on the need for international involvement ''for a considerable amount of time''.

While Afghanistan was going through ''a somewhat difficult'' period, Vendrell said the appointments of new provincial governors and police chiefs and plans to reform the Islamist-dominated Supreme Court marked progress.

Whether security was sufficient to allow for reconstruction and development work would only become clear later in the year.

''It is likely that for the time being the Afghan population will sit and watch and see whether we are effective or not. We have not been seen to be effective in the past four years.'' REUTERS SY ND1812