Jaap de Hoop Schaafer, Secretary General of NATO, has called for a build up of troops in Afghanistan ahead of the August elections. “We must ensure that we have sufficient troops on the ground to enforce security both during and after the coming election period,” de Hoop Schaafer stated. There has been controversy about claims that President Karzai has been attempting to tamper with the elections after he called for them to occur as early as the first week of April. There has been increasing violence in Afghanistan over the recent months, and as the snows begin to melt the situation promises to worsen.

Meanwhile the Taliban is encroaching on Kabul. It is the ideological heartland of the Taliban and they will stop at nothing to get it back. With NATO looking to hand over more and more responsibility to the city police and security forces this will cause complications. In a nation which is rife with nepotism, paternalism and criminal activity the Taliban has been able to move towards gaining support in rural areas where people simply want swift justice, as opposed to wrangling with corrupt bureaucrats. More importantly the Taliban has shown its strength by assassinating government officials in their offices in the capital.

With the weather improving, the Taliban increasing its hostilities and the political mood in the nation souring, an influx of NATO troops may not be enough to stabilize a nation which many have argued will be as damning as Vietnam for America and NATO as a whole.

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