US General David Petraeus told ABC News that American and coalition troops are nevertheless making headway with "hard fought gains" against insurgents but that it remained tough going.

Recounting his impressions from a battlefield tour, Petraeus said the fight was "very difficult and sometimes -- seeming to be as slow as, again, watching grass grow or paint dry. But nonetheless -- progress."

Asked where US-led forces had reversed the Taliban's momentum, Petraeus said that coalition troops had seized the initiative in the center of Helmand province in southern Afghanistan.

"I think there's no question that in Helmand Province, the six central districts of Helmand Province -- are a good bit more secure than they were even six months ago," he said in the television interview.

He also insisted that coalition efforts in Marjah -- the site of a major US-led offensive in February -- were paying off, despite persistent violence and setbacks.

A high school had opened in Marjah for the first time in six years, an interim police station was operating and drug dealers allied with insurgents no longer sold opium in the local market, he said.

The insurgency could no longer rely on Marjah as its "major command and control headquarters" in the province, he said.

In a separate interview with National Public Radio, Petraeus struck a similarly cautious tone, saying operations in the strategic Kandahar province would take time to bear fruit and the effort had to be "Afghan-led."

He said coalition forces were about to launch "more nuanced" operations around Kandahar to win back areas that "were never cleared" of insurgents, according to excerpts of the NPR interview.

The general, credited in Washington with salvaging the US mission in Iraq, acknowledged that the Afghan government's police were often unpopular among the local population.

"There is truth, in fact, to the fact that the police in particular have image problems that are based on reality," he said.

earlier related report
NATO military chiefs to discuss Afghanistan
Brussels (AFP) Sept 15, 2010 - The military chiefs of NATO's 28 member countries will meet in Slovakia this weekend to discuss Afghanistan and the modernisation of the alliance, a diplomat said Wednesday.

NATO's Military Committee will hold talks in Mesto Vysoke Tatry, northern Slovakia, between Friday and Sunday with US General David Petraeus, the commander in Afghanistan, joining in via videoconference.

The meeting of NATO's highest military authority is part of preparations for the alliance's summit in Lisbon on November 19-20.

The military chiefs will discuss ongoing operations, especially Afghanistan but also its presence in Kosovo, said the committee's spokesman, Colonel Massimo Pannizzi.

They will discuss Petraeus's request for 2,000 extra troops, whose main task would be to train Afghan forces, and plans to gradually hand over security responsibility to Afghan soldiers and police.

NATO wants to begin to transfer security responsibility to Afghans by the middle of next year, with a goal of completing the task in 2014.

The Military Committee will also discuss the alliance's new strategic concept, a document to be adopted in Lisbon on the new threats NATO faces -- cyber attacks, missiles and terrorism.

earlier related report
Four held over killing of Spaniards in Afghanistan: Zapatero
Madrid (AFP) Sept 15, 2010 - Four people have been arrested in Afghanistan over the killing of two Spanish policemen and an interpreter last month, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said Wednesday.

An Afghan working as their driver killed the two officers of Spain's Civil Guard police force and their Iranian-born Spanish interpreter during a training session at the Spanish camp in Badghis, northwestern Afghanistan, on August 25.

Spanish troops then shot dead the assailant following the attack, which was claimed by Taliban insurgents.

Zapatero told parliament that four people had been arrested in connection with the shooting, but gave no further details.

"We will not stop until all those responsible are under arrest," he said.

Spain has 1,555 troops serving in NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, according to the ISAF website, part of a 141,000-strong force deployed in Afghanistan to battle a Taliban-led insurgency nearing the end of its ninth year.

The Spanish contingent runs a US-led civil-military operation known as a Provincial Reconstruction Team.

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