U.S. Expanding G.I. Presence in Afghanistan to Permit Aid Work:
"American forces will expand deployment in the southern and eastern parts of Afghanistan to increase security so that reconstruction work can begin unmolested by Taliban and Qaeda attackers, the top military commander here said Sunday.

The announcement by the commander, Lt. Gen. David Barno, amounted to an admission by the Americans that the 11,500 troops in Afghanistan have been unable to stop a constant stream of insurgent attacks that have undermined or slowed international aid efforts. "

The announcement also signaled a major shift in emphasis for the so-called provincial reconstruction teams run by the military, which have been helping mainly to provide emergency relief to Afghans and win the trust of the population. Now those teams will focus primarily on providing security in the southern and eastern areas of Afghanistan that have been most vulnerable to insurgent attacks this year.…

The military has five provincial reconstruction teams, consisting of 50 to 70 soldiers each, and is putting six more in place. Twelve teams in all will be working by March, the spokesman said. They will concentrate on a range of security initiatives, including patrolling, and building up local police and Afghan security forces.

NATO, which commands the peacekeeping force in Kabul and is taking over control of a German-run reconstruction team in northern Afghanistan at the end of the month, will also set up more such teams in coming months, General Barno said.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and international and Afghan aid agencies have for months called for a stronger international effort to improve security. Some prominent agencies have criticized the reconstruction teams as an inadequate response to the serious security threats facing the Afghan people and those providing assistance.

"There is still not a clear mandate about how they are going to operate," said Sally Austin, deputy country director of CARE International in Kabul. She added that a year after the first reconstruction team started in the town of Gardez, southeast of Kabul, it remained unclear what achievements there had been there. Security has improved recently in the Gardez area, she said, but she attributed the improvement more to the change in governor than any impact by the team.

Two foreign aid workers, an Italian tourist and 13 Afghan aid workers have been killed in Taliban-orchestrated attacks this year. At least 100 Afghan policemen and 8 American troops have also died. Five Afghan border guards were killed and two wounded in the latest attack, on Saturday night at their post close to the border with Pakistan near the southern town of Spinbaldak.

After a 29-year-old woman from the United Nations refugee agency was shot dead last month in the town of Ghazni, south of Kabul, the United Nations special representative to Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, said the organization might have to pull staff members out of the country if security does not improve.

The security problems may jeopardize the entire political process and national elections scheduled for June next year. Elections may have to move to September, and can go ahead at all only if there is a major improvement in security, Mr. Brahimi said in an interview on Friday.…

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/22/international/asia/22AFGH.html