NATO hopes elders can stop Taliban in Afghan town

KABUL, Oct 2 (Reuters) British NATO troops have reached an agreement with Afghan elders aimed at ending Taliban attacks in a southern district where six British soldiers have been killed since August.

NATO troops have been fighting big battles with the Taliban across southern Afghanistan since they took over from US-led troops there at the end of July. NATO has acknowledged it underestimated the scale of Taliban resistance.

Under the agreement reached in the small town of Musa Qala, in Helmand province, British troops will not launch offensives.

In return, the elders will press the Taliban to stop attacks, a NATO spokesman said today.

''If we are not attacked, we have no reason to initiate offensive operations. The tribal elders are using their influence on the Taliban,'' said NATO spokesman Mark Laity.

Laity said no negotiations had been held with the Taliban and the 140 or so British troops in Musa Qala were not withdrawing.

''The British are still there. The agreement with the elders did not include any requirement for us to withdraw,'' he said.

The level of violence across Afghanistan five years after the Taliban were ousted has sapped earlier optimism about the country, a crucial US ally in the war on terrorism.

There has been heavy fighting in Musa Qala since May, when the Taliban tried to capture it. NATO troops sent to hold it and other remote district government outposts have become magnets for the Taliban.

British troops in Musa Qala have been attacked repeatedly, for weeks on end, at times calling in air strikes to beat back the Taliban.

EFFORTS TO END VIOLENCE Questions have been raised about the wisdom of defending fixed, remote positions but the Afghan government is determined to hold its district headquarters, and deny the Taliban the propaganda victory of capturing one.

The agreement in Musa Qala was reached after elders, fed up with the fighting, approached NATO troops and asked what could be done, Laity said. He said he was confident they had influence on the Taliban.

Efforts are underway elsewhere to end the violence by involving chiefs of the fiercely independent and conservative Pashtun tribes.

Pakistan and Afghanistan -- at odds over Afghan complaints the Taliban get help in Pakistan -- have agreed to hold jirgas, or tribal councils, on both sides of the border to discuss security.

Most members of the Taliban are Pashtun.

Pakistan last month reached an agreement with tribal elders and militants in a region on its side of the Afghan border. The pact is aimed at ending attacks in Pakistan and cross-border attacks on foreign and government troops in Afghanistan.

About 140 foreign troops have been killed in Afghanistan this year, raising opposition to Afghan involvement among the public and opposition parties in some NATO members.

But the Taliban have suffered much heavier losses -- about 2,500 killed this year, according to foreign forces and government figures. The Taliban dismiss those figures but analysts say their losses have been high.

REUTERS LL VC1722