Afghanistan in ‘downward spiral’

The war in Afghanistan has entered a "downward spiral", with a lack of coherence in the West's policy there and unbounded corruption in the government of Hamid Karzai, according to a draft copy of a report prepared by America's National Intelligence Estimate (NIE).

The NIE, which brings together the work of the US's 16 spying agencies and which last year called into question the progress of the Iranian nuclear programme, warned that the Taliban was becoming a more sophisticated fighting force, while the legitimacy of the Afghan government was being questioned.

In recent months the Taliban have launched high-profile military attacks, such as the one that killed 10 French peacekeeping troops in August, as well as setting off a series of attacks against targets in the supposedly safe cities.

Mr Karzai's government has little control of the country outside its urban strongholds, despite having an army that is expected to reach a complement of 86,000 troops by next summer. Most counter-insurgency is carried out by foreign forces, thus strengthening the Taliban's claims to be fighting for the Afghani people.

Afghanistan's opium trade is also booming at the moment, constituting more than half of the country's economy, according to some reports. The NIE report was due to come out after next month's US election, but was leaked to US newspapers.