UK official heartened by Afghans' wish for peace

London, Oct 6: A British official said today he was encouraged by signs local people want an end to fighting in some districts of southern Afghanistan, seeing it as evidence villagers are standing up to Taliban guerrillas.

At least 15 British soldiers have been killed since June in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, where the Taliban still enjoy considerable popular support.

A senior British Foreign Ministry official, authorised to speak to reporters on condition he was not named, said there were positive signs that people in parts of Helmand were turning to the provincial governor, Mohammad Daoud, to seek political solutions to local security problems.

''What they are demonstrating is their readiness as a community to stand up to the Taliban in their districts,'' he said.

He spoke as NATO assumed responsibility for security across the whole of Afghanistan today.

NATO said this week that British troops had reached an agreement with Afghan elders aimed at ending Taliban attacks in the small town of Musa Qala, in Helmand province.

Under the agreement, British troops would not launch offensives in the area. In return, the elders would press the Taliban to stop attacks, a NATO spokesman said.

A Taliban spokesman quoted by The Daily Telegraph newspaper on Thursday however accused British forces of breaking the agreement by staying in the village and threatened new attacks.

The Foreign Ministry official acknowledged the understanding between tribal elders and the Taliban could break down at any time.

But he added: ''Were this process to consolidate and spread to other districts in the north (of Helmand) -- and there is evidence that other districts are looking very closely at what's happening in Musa Qala -- then I'm sure the Taliban would see it as a very worrying development,'' he said.

The official was cautious on whether there could be a lull in Taliban attacks in Helmand over the winter, as there has traditionally been in other parts of Afghanistan. It did not snow in Helmand in winter so operations might continue, he said.

A senior Ministry of Defence official said the Taliban had recently ''taken a bit of a hammering''. NATO's southern Afghanistan offensive in September killed 1,000 to 1,500 Taliban fighters, its top operational commander has said.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair strongly defended the NATO mission in Afghanistan today when asked about an estimate by a spokesman for UN refugee agency UNHCR that the fighting had displaced 80,000 to 90,000 people in recent months.

''This mission is absolutely critical for global security,'' Blair told reporters. ''Of course there are people in Afghanistan who are suffering as a result of the fighting ... but they suffered a great deal more in the days when the Taliban and al Qaeda were running Afghanistan ... where people could be shot for trying to teach girls in school.''

Reuters