U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday she has seen progress in Afghanistan during the past few years, despite a determined Taliban insurgency that has disrupted security and prompted concerns that the NATO-led military campaign is failing.

In an image released by the International Security Assistance Force, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice speaks to troops during her visit at Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan on Thursday.
(Liepke Plankcke/Royal Netherlands Air Force, ISAF/Associated Press)

"Can we all expect the security situation will still be difficult? Yes, because Afghanistan has determined enemies who laid waste to this country over a period of a decade," said Rice, adding that it would be unfair to say the NATO and Afghan government efforts aren't working. "The strategy is one that I believe is having a good effect."

Rice made the unannounced trip to Kabul and Kandahar — a former Taliban stronghold — with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, standing beside Rice at a news conference, also defended his leadership, saying the economy and education systems have improved under his watch and there are more democratic freedoms under a new constitution.

"Afghanistan, if given more attention, would be very very glad and thankful but it is not right that Afghanistan has been forgotten," said Karzai, who was responding to a recent independent report that said the country is in danger of becoming a failed state.

Said Rice: "If you look at the Afghanistan of 2001 and the Afghanistan of now, there is a remarkable difference for the better."

Kandahar was the Taliban's stronghold even after the regime was toppled by a U.S.-led assault in 2001. U.S.-led forces pushed the Taliban out of the city in 2006 and 2007, but the area is still dangerous.

Canada has threatened to remove its roughly 2,500 combat force based around Kandahar unless NATO supplies more troops and support.

"It's not an overwhelming number of forces that is being sought here," Rice said. "This is a troop contribution level that NATO can meet and should meet."

Support from Afghans needed

Rice and Miliband made clear they expect co-operation from the Karzai government, widely seen as weak.

"The Afghan government has responsibilities, too," Rice told reporters. "This is a two-way street, and I think everybody has to step back and concern ourselves with the Taliban."

Said Miliband: "We've got responsibilities that we're determined to live up to and obligations that we're determined to live up to and ditto for the Afghan authorities. That's something we want to follow through and at the heart of both our strategies is the belief this has to be done with the Afghan government and in fact led by the Afghan government, with our support."

In London on Wednesday, Rice said the fight in Afghanistan won't be won quickly, and U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates scolded NATO countries who haven't committed combat troops "willing to fight and die" to defeat a resurgent Taliban.

"I think that it puts a cloud over the future of the alliance if this is to endure and perhaps even get worse," the Pentagon chief said from Washington.

Gates said he's not optimistic that the influx of 3,000 more U.S. marines into Afghanistan this spring will be enough to put the NATO-led war effort back on track. He said he has sent letters to every alliance defence minister asking them to contribute more troops and equipment, but hasn't received any replies.

As he has before, Gates insisted he would continue to be "a nag on this issue" when he meets NATO defence ministers Thursday and Friday in Europe to discuss Afghanistan, but also said that only the Canadians, British, Australians, Dutch and Danes "are really out there on the line and fighting."