QALAT, Afghanistan (CP) - Five years after the Taliban's fall, tribal leaders from the sun-baked mud villages around Qalat, an ancient town east of Kandahar, say life isn't much better.

They enjoy neither peace nor the benefits of new development, they say. And they blame the growing popularity of violent anti-government militants on the failure of international forces to keep their word. "There is no security here," says Neamat Khan, 35, director of a local construction agency.


He made the comments at the base for the local Provincial Reconstruction Team where members of the United Nations Security Council met local elders Tuesday.


The visit to gauge progress and plot strategy is the council's first trip to Afghanistan in three years.


Promised roads, wells, schools and medical clinics have been slow in coming, especially in the isolated rural areas where they are arguably most needed.


"Day by day, support for the Taliban is increasing," said Khan, his blue eyes intense and a long turban draped over his shoulder.


The bleak assessment hardly matches much rosier scenes drawn by NATO commanders in recent weeks. Coalition leaders have repeatedly stressed that the South is increasingly safe, the Taliban is on the run, and aid projects are on track.


UN Security Council spokesman Adrian Edwards seemed to back the local viewpoint.


"Security this year has certainly got worse," he said.


Suicide bombings and roadside blasts have soared, while the national opium trade - supplier of much of the world's heroin - broke records.


Edwards quickly noted that Afghanistan has made obvious progress in the last five years "from less than zero." There is now an elected government, a new constitution, hundreds of new schools and wells, and long stretches of freshly paved highway.


But the battle for the "hearts and minds" of local people is being lost, says Khan.


Villagers are increasingly bitter over the rate at which young men are mistakenly rounded up as insurgent suspects and detained by foreign troops, he said.


"People are very angry about this."


Hundreds of civilians in the South have also been displaced from their homes and vineyards flattened by NATO bombings in recent combat missions.


"In general, people are not happy with the United Nations or NATO," said Khan.


Farmer and tribal elder Hakim Khan says foreign troops should woo local support by diverting huge sums away from military operations and into local projects. Clean water, improved roads and better salaries for Afghan security forces would go farther to bolster government support, he suggests.

Dutch Maj.-Gen. Ton Van Loon recognizes that battle-fatigued Afghans are sick of fighting after almost three decades.

But troops can't pack up just yet, he said.

"We cannot accept insurgents taking control," and sabotaging aid efforts, Van Loon said.

"If we need to fight the Taliban, we will fight the Taliban. There is no doubt whatsoever about that."

Still, Van Loon said it's "crucially important" that momentum shift from combat to reconstruction.


Also vital is the involvement of anyone who is committed to building a democratic Afghanistan, he added. Even former Taliban should be included if they've genuinely changed tack, he said.

"What they've been in the past, to me, is less relevant. We need to talk to the Afghans."

Local guidance is indispensable in a notoriously complex political realm. NATO forces must be ever wary when acting on tips to avoid being used as pawns in time-honoured tribal feuds.

"They are the experts," Van Loon said of local elders. "We are like the blind boxer. We can hit very hard, but they will need to talk to us to make sure that we hit the right targets."

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