Despite the best efforts by coalition forces, the Taliban in Afghanistan have maintained, and perhaps even gained, strength.
The resilient Taliban, defeated in 2001, are now using classic guerrilla strategy in the struggle for control of Afghanistan. That includes targetting doctors, teachers, government officials and villagers.
"Most of the southern countryside is now paralyzed, beyond the influence of Afghanistan's central government, lacking any government services and unable to break the Taliban's stranglehold," wrote Globe and Mail foreign correspondent Geoffrey York recently while posted there.
Canadian forces are currently leading the mission to provide security in the area, and could remain there provide beyond the current commitment to 2009. But Taliban violence in the region have made safety of the troops a hot-button issue, with Captain Nichola Goddard being the most recent Canadian military member killed there. Just this week, Taliban fighters injured five Canadian soldiers in an early morning attack 20 kilometres west of Kandahar.
And Canadian soldiers aren't the only ones being targeted.
"The doctors and teachers have all left the rural areas because they are afraid of the Taliban. The rural areas are out of the government's control. Day by day, it is getting worse," a local physician, Dr. Mahmood Sadat, tells Mr. York.
Read Mr. York's full report: Taliban rising .
What do you think about the Taliban's presence in Afghanistan? How can the situation be improved? What should Canada's role be?
Earlier, Globe and Mail foreign correspondent Geoffrey York was on-line to take reader questions and comments.
Scroll down to read the questions and answers.
Geoffrey York is a graduate of Carleton University who has been a Globe and Mail reporter since 1981. He has been a foreign correspondent for the newspaper since 1994.
He was the Moscow bureau chief from 1994 to 2002. He has been the Beijing bureau chief since 2002.
He is a veteran war correspondent who has covered war zones since 1991 in places such as Somalia, Sudan, Chechnya, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans and the Palestinian Territories.
He has just finished a one-month stint in Afghanistan. It was his fourth visit to Afghanistan since 2001. He first visited the country in the spring of 2001, when the Taliban ruled the country. He later covered the U.S.-led war to topple the Taliban in the fall of 2001, and visited again in 2002.
He is the author of three books, including two books on aboriginal issues in Canada. He has received several journalistic awards, including nominations for National Newspaper Awards.
Editor's Note: The same rules will apply to this live discussion as normally apply to the "reader comment" feature. Globeandmail.com editors will read and approve each comment/question. Not all comments/questions can be answered in the time available. Comments/questions will be checked for content only. Spelling and grammar errors will not be corrected. Comments/questions that include personal attacks, false or unsubstantiated allegations, vulgar language or libelous statements will be rejected. Preference will be given to those who ask questions under their full name, rather than pseudonyms.
Allison Dunfield, globeandmail.com, writes: Hi, Geoffrey, and thank you very much for agreeing to take part in today's discussion. You say in your article that the Taliban have almost total control of the rural areas of Afghanistan. Can you talk a bit about what you think will happen in the next few years? Will they be able to continue that control, or is there any hope of reducing their presence? Secondly, can you give us a sense of what daily life is like for people in these Taliban-controlled areas?
Mr. York writes: It will be extremely difficult to root out the Taliban from their entrenched positions in the villages and rural districts, largely because there is no real alternative to their power in those districts. Government services have collapsed, the central government has virtually no presence in the rural regions, the district officials and the police are seen as corrupt and ineffective, and the international military coalition has not been able to reach into most villages with any kind of permanent presence. The Canadian troops have worked hard to get out into the villages, but they are simply not numerous enough to reach into most villages. Looking a few years ahead, the most likely scenario is a continuation of these problems. There is some hope of reducing the Taliban presence, but it will require a very determined effort to control the borders, boost the police and military numbers, and attack the Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan — which will require heavy pressure from the United States, the only country with any realistic chance of influencing the Pakistan regime.
