Washington, Sept 18: Taliban commanders in two Afghan provinces are plotting attacks on United Nations workers, US-led forces and Afghan officials, the United States has warned. The alert came one day after aid agencies in Afghanistan warned that reconstruction work in some areas of the battered country was almost impossible, owing to a deteriorating security situation. The US Embassy in Kabul yesterday delivered the warning in a warden message seen here, covering the Shah Wali Kot and Ghorak districts of southern Kandahar province and the Nesh district of neighbouring Oruzgan province. What it described as "Taliban forces" were "planning to attack united nations personnel, coalition forces, foreign non-governmental organisation workers and Afghan transitional administration officials transiting through or present in these areas if the opportunity arises." It warned US citizens to make every effort to avoid affected areas.


Aid agencies on Tuesday warned that Nato must urgently expand security operations outside Kabul, as a spate of armed attacks had made reconstruction work almost impossible.

"Nato must urgently expand peacekeepers outside the capital before the security situation gets any worse," Paul Barker, country director for Afghanistan, said in a policy brief jointly issued by care and the center on international cooperation.


"Since September 2002, armed attacks against the assistance community have increased from one a month to an average of one every two days," Care said.

Bureau Report