Taliban in Kandahar area set to bounce back

OTTAWA, Nov 21: Taliban militants in the violent southern Afghan province of Kandahar were ''knocked on their back feet'' by a recent NATO offensive but are likely to recover and mount further attacks on western forces, senior Canadian military officials said.

They also said NATO forces in the south would press ahead to develop so-called Afghan development zones in a bid to dramatically improve living conditions in major towns and thereby undercut the influence of the Taliban.

NATO troops started a major assault on the Taliban in southern Afghanistan in September and say they killed several hundred militants. The level of attacks on foreign troops has dipped over the last month.

''One of the reasons why we've seen fewer attacks in the short term is that the opposing forces have now essentially been knocked on their back feet,'' said Lieutenant-General Andrew Leslie, commander of Canadian land forces.

''It does not however mean that they are out. I think there's every likelihood that over the course of the subsequent weeks and months there's a probability that the number of attacks could grow,'' he told Parliament's defense committee.

Since 2002, 42 Canadian soldiers have died in Afghanistan, most of them in battles in the south of the country over the past few months.

Local Afghan civilians as well as parliamentarians in several NATO member countries complain that the Alliance is putting far too much emphasis on military operations and not nearly enough on reconstruction efforts.

Brigadier-General Al Howard, a leading Canadian army strategist, said that in the short term the Taliban would try to foil reconstruction and humanitarian aid efforts as well as disrupt contacts between foreign soldiers and locals.

''In rural areas where there is a strong Taliban presence they will try to consolidate their hold over the population throughout the winter in order to defeat any attempts to spread the government of Afghanistan's influence,'' he told the committee.

Howard said five or six development zones would be set up in secure towns in southern Afghanistan to allow serious reconstruction work in conditions of safety.

''The (zone) concept is really about trying to move into an area where there is a large population base ... as opposed to going all over the country and being rather spread out and dispersed,'' he said.

''If we go to one area and we can have success ... what we hope is that those who are outside the (zone) actually look in and (say) 'Boy, that looks good'.'' But Howard stressed that the Kandahar region was still what he called ''a challenging and dangerous environment'' and said the zones would not work overnight.

''I think this will take some patience,'' he said.

REUTERS