NATO's top soldier confident about Afghan security

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, July 21 (Reuters) NATO chiefs toured volatile areas of southern Afghanistan today and vowed they were ready to take on a resurgent Taliban, 10 days ahead of the alliance's big new deployment in the country.

Underlining the renewed militant threat, a US-led coalition spokeswoman said a foreign soldier was killed late yesterday when rockets and mortars hit a coalition compound in Sharan, in the southeastern province of Paktika.

More than 60 foreign troops, including at least six from the NATO-led mission, have been killed this year, the bloodiest period since coalition forces overthrew the Taliban in 2001.

''It is my view that the security is satisfactory,'' NATO'S top commander of operations, US General James Jones, told a news conference held in a multi-faith chapel at Kandahar airport.

NATO peacekeeping troops, mostly from Britain, Canada and the Netherlands, will take charge of security in six southern provinces from the US-led coalition at the end of the month in what will be its biggest ground operation in its history.

Jones and NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer made a flying visit to bases in Uruzgan, Helmand and Kandahar provinces today to meet troops who will be involved in the alliance's new mission.

Leading up to the change in command, the coalition has launched an offensive in the south against the Taliban and their allies.

''Clearly there is more activity in this part of the country, but the (NATO) troops will be more than a match for anything they can throw against us,'' said Jones, before returning to Brussels after a two-day tour of Kabul and southern Afghanistan.

Scores of militants and civilians, as well as 17 foreign soldiers have died in the past six weeks in a wave of attacks, hit-and-run raids and suicide bombings in the south.

NATO already oversees operations in relatively secure areas in the north, west and in Kabul, but the south is a hotbed of violence.

''There will be spoilers,'' de Hoop Scheffer told reporters.

''The going will get tough.'' The alliance will boost its presence in Afghanistan by about 7,000 troops to 16,000, and their new deployment will double the number of foreign troops in the south.

The extra soldiers should let the United States trim its Afghan force of about 22,000.

REUTERS SY KP1908