Britain warns of Taliban return as attacks kill 5

KABUL, Afghanistan – Britain’s defense secretary warned on Sunday that any letup on militants could see the toppled Taliban regime and al-Qaida regain power in Afghanistan.

As John Reid made his call during a visit to Kabul, gunbattles elsewhere killed five people and rockets slammed into a U.S.-run base in the south.

The warning followed a spike in bombings and shootings targeting coalition troops, Afghan forces and often ordinary locals as the Taliban apparently have made good on threats to increase attacks during the warmer spring and summer months.

“The greatest danger of all for the people of Afghanistan and the people of the United Kingdom would be if Afghanistan ever again came under the rule of a Taliban regime prepared to protect al-Qaida or terrorist groups,” Reid told reporters in the capital.

Spiraling violence is a growing concern for nations contributing troops to a force operating here under a NATO mandate. The force is to rise from its current 10,000 soldiers to about 21,000 by November as it gradually assumes command of all international troops in Afghanistan.

Some 6,000 mainly British, Canadian and Dutch soldiers have started deploying in the remote tribal-dominated southern region

At least 18,000 U.S. soldiers are in Afghanistan – more than four years after the U.S.-led invasion toppled the hard-line Taliban regime for hosting al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

Reid said coalition forces were based throughout southern Afghanistan primarily to aid the war-ravaged country’s reconstruction, but also were prepared to defend Afghan partners and themselves.

Afghan soldiers and police surrounded Taliban fighters hiding in a village in the volatile Gelan district of southern Ghazni province, some 75 miles southwest of Kabul, said provincial Gov. Haji Sher Alam. Three Taliban fighters and a policeman were killed, he told the Associated Press.