An injured Afghan police officer is transported on the back of a vehicle after a suicide attack in Lashkar Gah, Helmand province, Afghanistan. A suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into a police truck outside a bakery in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing a number of civilians, officials said.By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan – The monthly average of armed clashes, roadside bombings and other violence in Afghanistan is running 39 percent ahead of last year’s figure, U.N. reported Wednesday, with more complex suicide operations involving multiple bombers and gunmen.
The statistics show that the intensity of the nearly decade-old war is growing, not abating, as the U.S. and other nations start to withdraw some forces with an eye toward pulling all combat troops out by the end of 2014. The Taliban’s resilience raises questions about whether the Afghan government and its Western allies have a solid grip on security – and whether the Afghan forces can ever secure the nation by themselves.
NATO says it has made progress in taming the Taliban insurgency by routing its strongholds in the south. But the Taliban have hit back with several high-profile attacks in the capital and assassinations of government officials and senior Afghan leaders.
In its quarterly report on Afghanistan, the U.N. said that as of the end of August, the average monthly number of incidents stood at 2,108, up 39 percent over the same period a year earlier. It did not provide comparable data. The figures include insurgent attacks as well as assaults by NATO and Afghan forces on Taliban figures and positions.