Attacks in East Afghanistan up 40 percent, US says

While violence is declining in Iraq it is on the rise in Afghanistan. In fact, attacks on Americans are higher in Afghanistan than in Iraq despite there being far fewer of our troops in the former. The Taliban are taking advantage of our being held down in Iraq, and the chaos in Pakistan, to step up their attacks.

Insurgent attacks in eastern Afghanistan rose by 40 percent in the first five months of this year over the same period a year ago, the U.S. commander of NATO forces in the region said on Tuesday. While insisting NATO was making progress in establishing stability, Army Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Schloesser said he was "nowhere near" being able to state those efforts had achieved irreversible momentum.

We can't win there if the people in Afghanistan don't support us:

Frustrated by ongoing violence and uneven development, Afghans have grown sharply more critical of U.S. efforts in their country — and in the beleaguered southwest, support for the Taliban, ousted from power six years ago, is on the rise.

Overall, 42 percent of Afghans rate U.S. efforts in Afghanistan positively, down steeply from 68 percent in 2005, and 57 percent last year. For the first time, this national ABC News/BBC/ARD survey finds that more than half of Afghans disapprove of U.S. efforts.

Is it any wonder given NATOs inability to help the miserably poor people of Afghanistan.

Aid agencies said that up to $10 billion (6.5 billion euros), or 40 percent, of promised aid to Afghanistan has not been delivered by the West. Germany and the EU, however, questioned the organizations' calculations.

Aid agencies said that up to $10 billion (6.5 billion euros), or 40 percent, of promised aid to Afghanistan has not been delivered by the West, and what does arrive bypasses the Afghan government.

Western countries have failed to carry through on their pledges of aid to Afghanistan, according to a report by the Agency Coordinating Body For Afghan Relief (ACBAR). The umbrella group of non-governmental organizations which work in Afghanistan said the international community had pledged $25 billion to Afghanistan since 2001, when the extremist Taliban government was toppled, but that up to $10 billion had not reached the country.

The US government -- the biggest international donor to Afghanistan -- "has one of the biggest shortfalls," providing only half of the $10.4 billion dollars of pledged money until 2008, the report said.

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