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Afghanistan deaths hit new high

Afghanistan saw a record level of violence last year that killed more than 6,500 people, including 110 US troops -- the highest ever -- and almost 4,500 militants, according to an Associated Press (AP) count.

Britain lost 41 soldiers, while Canada lost 30. Other nations lost a total of 40.

The AP count is based on figures from Western and Afghan officials and is not definitive.

Afghan officials are known to exaggerate Taliban deaths, for instance, and NATO's International Security Assistance Force does not release numbers of militants it killed, meaning AP's estimate of 4,478 militants deaths could be low.

Six years after the 2001 US-led invasion, violence is pervasive in wide swaths of southern Afghanistan -- in Helmand, Uruzgan and Kandahar provinces -- regions where the government has little presence. Militants moved into Wardak, one province south of Kabul.

More than 925 Afghan policemen died in Taliban ambushes last year, including 16 police killed on Saturday in Helmand Province during an assault on a checkpoint.

But US officials here insist things are looking up.

"The Taliban attack who they perceive to be the most vulnerable, and in this case it's the police," said Lieutenant Colonel Dave Johnson, a spokesman for the US troops who train Afghan police and soldiers. "They don't travel in large formations like the army does. That puts them in an area of vulnerability."

The Interior Ministry says more than 850 police were killed since March 21, the beginning of the Islamic calendar, and an AP count found 74 others killed the previous months

Seth Jones, an analyst with the RAND Corp who follows Afghanistan, said his biggest concern for the country is increasing questions about the quality of governance, a necessary component to defeat an insurgency.

"This was an increasingly violent year, but the bigger picture is that not all is terrible," Jones said.

"The thing that concerns me most," he said, "is the general perception in Afghanistan that the government is not capable of meeting the basic demands of its population, that it's involved in corruption ... that it's unable to deliver services in key rural areas, that it's not able to protect its population, especially the police."

Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said militant fighters will increase suicide attacks, ambushes and roadside bombs against US and NATO forces this year.

"We will gain more sympathies of the Afghan people because the people are upset with this government because this government has failed," he said.

He also said fighters have "new weapons" they would use against NATO forces.

Taliban suicide attackers set off a record number of attacks this year -- more than 140 -- and in many ways they became more sophisticated.

In February a suicide bomber killed 23 people outside the main US base at Bagram during a visit by US Vice President Dick Cheney.

The fight against poppies failed. Afghanistan this year produced 93 percent of the world's opium, the main ingredient in heroin.

Despite those developments, Mark Stroh, the spokesman for the US Embassy in Kabul, called last year a good year, saying the country made progress in security, governance and development.

"Last year at this time there was grave concern that the Taliban were going to overrun large parts of the country. That clearly has not been the case," Stroh said.

US military operations killed or detained more than 50 "significant" militant leaders, said Lieutenant Colonel David Accetta, a military spokesman.

The eastern region of the country where US forces primarily operate now has 85 government centers, with 53 more under construction, he said. There were no government centers during the Taliban rule.

"It's a clear example of the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan expanding its reach to the people," he said.
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