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‘Taliban unable to expand insurgency in Afghanistan’

* NATO spokesman says increased insurgency still focused along Pak-Afghan border

KABUL: A day after the Pentagon warned militants were likely to boost their presence in the north and west of the country, NATO said on Sunday that the Taliban could not expand their insurgency into new Afghan areas.

“Undoubtedly, the Taliban would like to expand their influence, but so far this year we assess that we’ve contained the insurgency to just about the same areas as in 2007 and 2006. They would like to expand but that doesn’t mean they would succeed,” NATO spokesman Mark Laity said.

The Pentagon in its report on Afghan security presented to Congress had said, “The Taliban will challenge the control of the Afghan government in rural areas, especially in the south and east. The Taliban will also probably attempt to increase its presence in the west and north.”

With 42 international soldiers killed this month and 109 this year, the violence from a Taliban-led insurgency that is mainly focused in southern and eastern Afghanistan has increased.

Insurgency: “There has been an increase in incidents but in broad-terms, they have been happening in the same areas as before,” Laity said, referring to southern and eastern Afghanistan along the Pakistan border.

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Chief Military Spokesman General Carlos Branco also said the rebels were unlikely to expand into new areas. afp

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