NATO says Afghan clashes up in 2008

By Jon Hemming

KABUL (Reuters) - NATO forces in Afghanistan have clashed more times with Taliban insurgents in the first two months of 2008 compared to last year, though fighting has occurred in fewer places, the alliance-led force said on Monday.

NATO says it is making progress against the Taliban, but analysts say there is stalemate on the ground that is eating into Western support for keeping troops in Afghanistan and pulling out foreign forces would hand the Taliban strategic victory.

In the first two months of 2008, there have been 595 armed clashes in 101 districts in Afghanistan, compared to 550 clashes in 88 districts in the same period last year, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.

The increase in clashes was due to greater activity by troops going after Taliban rebels, an ISAF spokesman said.

"It is indicative of the increasing activity on behalf of ISAF," said Captain Mike Finney. "We have been more active than we were last year and, in fact, insurgent activities have gone down because we are going out to get them ... rather than them coming to us."

Meanwhile, the United Nations said there had been fewer security incidents this year, compared to the same period in 2007.

"We have quite simply not seen that kind of decline ever in Afghanistan," the UN deputy special envoy to Afghanistan Christopher Alexander told a news conference. "It does not mean that Afghanistan is heading towards peace immediately, but it does mean that with hard work security can improve.

ISAF and NATO measure incidents in different ways, another ISAF spokesman said, and pointed to the figures which showed fighting had taken place in fewer districts as evidence of improving security.