Pentagon plays down fears over Afghan violence

By David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon on Wednesday sought to play down the seriousness of growing violence in Afghanistan but declined to say the United States and NATO were winning their fight against Taliban insurgents.

On a day when President George W. Bush visited the Pentagon to discuss Iraq and Afghanistan with top officials, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said the question of additional forces for Afghanistan may be left to Bush's successor.

"It is a mixed picture in Afghanistan," Morrell told reporters, blaming a recent upswing in violence in the east of the country on a rise in the flow of foreign fighters from militant bases in Pakistan.

In one sign of the growing insurgency, militants killed nine U.S. soldiers in eastern Afghanistan earlier this month -- the deadliest attack on U.S. troops in the country since 2005.

But Morrell cast media reports of Afghan violence as "overwriting" that gave the false impression that "the sky is falling."

"I don't think that the (defence) secretary (Robert Gates) believes that is the case," Morrell said.

His comments came amid signs of sustained improvement in Iraq, where lower levels of violence appeared to be holding despite the withdrawal this year of five U.S. combat brigades deployed last year as part of Bush's so-called surge strategy.

"That is the war which we have focused on. That is the war we are now winning," Morrell said.