NATO: Insurgency not spreading in Afghanistan

[unhappycamper]

NATO: Insurgency not spreading in Afghanistan
By Rahim Faiez - The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Feb 3, 2008 16:04:35 EST

KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban insurgency is not spreading and 70 percent of the violence last year occurred in only 10 percent of the country, NATO said Sunday, in contrast with other recent more pessimistic reports.

Lt. Col. Claudia Foss, a spokeswoman for NATO’s International Security Assistance Force, said three-quarters of Afghanistan suffered one violent incident per week.

“It is becoming increasingly clear that the insurgent movement is being contained,” Foss told a press conference in Kabul.

Her comments followed a series of pessimistic assessments of the situation in Afghanistan, which said a resurgent Taliban is challenging the United States and its allies.

An independent study co-chaired by retired Marine Corps Gen. James Jones and former U.N. Ambassador Thomas Pickering warned last week that Afghanistan risks becoming a failed state because of deteriorating international support and the growing Taliban insurgency.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/ap_natoafghanistan_080203/