Rumsfeld hopes for expansion of Afghan peacekeeping

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said yesterday he was hopeful Nato might expand peacekeeping operations outside the Afghan capital, but that security was primarily the responsibility of Afghans.

Rumsfeld spoke during a brief visit to Afghanistan that coincided with an increase in violent attacks by the ousted Taliban militia, and shortly after one of the biggest battles with the Taliban for at least 18 months.

Scores of residents demonstrated in Kabul yesterday against the presence of US-led forces in Afghanistan and some, unhappy with Afghan President Hamid Karzai's failure to bring security to many parts of the country, called for the return of the Taliban.

The Afghan government, the United Nations and aid agencies have long appealed for peacekeepers to be deployed outside Kabul, and hopes this might happen have risen since Nato took command of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in August.

"I certainly agree that an expansion of ISAF would be a good thing," Rumsfeld said in response to a question at a joint news conference with Karzai.

"For whatever reason, there have not been countries lining up to expand ISAF, but it strikes me that... there is at least the possibility of somewhat of an expansion."

"But in the last analysis, the security in Afghanistan is the responsibility of the Afghan people," Rumsfeld said.

About 12,500 US and allied forces are searching Afghanistan for remnants of the Taliban and their al Qaeda allies. Another 5,000 peacekeeping troops are stationed in Kabul under Nato command.

On his last visit to Afghanistan in May, Rumsfeld said the United States had moved from a period of major combat operations to one of stabilisation and reconstruction.

Since then, however, the Taliban have staged almost daily attacks against government posts, aid workers and US-led forces. Large parts of the south and the east of the country are off limits to foreign aid workers.

Rumsfeld insisted security had improved each time he visited the country.

He made no mention of Washington's plans to increase aid to Afghanistan, which President George Bush is expected to announce soon. The Bush administration said in July it was preparing a $1 billion aid package for schools, roads and other projects.

The United States provides $900 million a month for American military operations in Afghanistan and $900 million a year for economic assistance and training the Afghan national army.

Hours before Rumsfeld arrived, the Afghan government said it had foiled a Taliban attack overnight on the Zeelok district headquarters in southeastern Paktika province near the Pakistani border. It was the latest in a series of attacks that have claimed hundreds of lives in the last month alone.

US special forces and Afghan troops have been fighting up to 1,000 Taliban fighters and supporters in the troubled province of Zabul for the last two weeks.

US military spokesman Colonel Rodney Davis said that between 10 and 26 "enemy fighters" were believed killed in clashes overnight in the Dai Chopan district of Zabul that involved air support.

He said up to 124 enemy fighters had now been killed since "Operation Mountain Viper" began in Zabul last month.

Officials and aid workers worry that Afghans, already wary of the influence Washington wields in their country, will start to resent the presence of the US military in the absence of tangible improvements in the country's war-shattered economy.