US commander says security bolstered in Kandahar

Security and military intelligence operations are being reinforced around Kandahar, the largest city in southern Afghanistan and site of the next phase of the allied military offensive against the Taliban, the American commander for the country said.

Afghan, U.S. and NATO forces are planning a major operation later this year in Kandahar province, which is next to Helmand province where thousands of troops just seized the district of Marjah from insurgents. The southern push is part of a new counterinsurgency strategy and follows President Barack Obama's decision to send 30,000 new American troops to Afghanistan to reverse insurgent gains.

"Instead of putting a date certain on which there would be a climactic military operation, I tell you that the process has already begun," the top commander in Afghanistan, U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, said about Kandahar, the Taliban's spiritual birthplace.

"It's a complex process that's going to involve a number of military things to increase security, along with police, but it will also involve a lot of political activities as well," he said.

Force levels already are being increased in some districts, including Arghandab, northwest of the city, and Panjwayi to the southwest, McChrystal said Wednesday in a video conference with reporters at the Pentagon. He said Defense Secretary Robert Gates had significantly increased the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance support to the NATO troops.

"If you control the environs around Kandahar, you go a long way to controlling Kandahar," he said. "Unlike a Marjah operation, where there was a D-day ... it is more likely that this will be a series of activities that target different parts of it to increase that security."

Former British ambassador to Afghanistan Mark Sedwill, who is NATO's current senior civilian representative, said work also was being done in the run-up to the offensive to resolve political tensions and reinforce government institutions.

McChrystal said the work with political leaders will be supported by security operations _ some in partnership with the Afghan National Police.

Earlier this week, the Afghan government said it would provide more than 1,000 police reinforcements for Kandahar province in response to Taliban attacks that killed dozens of people last weekend. Kandahar Gov. Tooryalai Wesa asked for more police after a series of bombings killed at least 35 people in Kandahar city. The Taliban called the attacks a "warning" that they are ready for the war's next phase.

Training Afghan national security forces is a priority for NATO so that Afghans can eventually take over security in their own nation.

In Kabul, Afghan President Hamid Karzai spoke Thursday at a graduation ceremony for 212 new military officers at the National Military Academy in Afghanistan. The academy eventually will commission 600 new lieutenants a year.

He told the graduates the nation is counting on them to defend the next generations of Afghans eager to see peace and stability after three decades of conflict. The army must be "strong like a mountain" and impervious to foreign forces, he said.

In the past 12 months, 1,410 Afghan police officers have been killed and 2,388 wounded while responding to 4,171 enemy attacks, the Interior Ministry reported Thursday. Of the total enemy engagements, 225 involved suicide attacks; 1,824 were linked to roadside mine explosions. The ministry said police found and detonated an additional 1,868 roadside bombs.

Army Lt. Gen. Michael Oates, director of the military's Joint Improvised Explosive Devices Defeat Organization, told the House Armed Services Committee this week that Afghanistan has experienced a near doubling of IED events in the past year, reflecting a resurgent Taliban.