Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/fierce-fighting-threatens-afghanistan-mission Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript A car bomb exploded near a NATO-led convoy in Kandahar, Afghanistan, injuring three British troops and two civilians. Barnett Rubin of New York University and Ali Jalali, former interior minister of Afghanistan, discuss the status of the peacekeeping mission and general welfare of the central Asian country. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. RAY SUAREZ: Today, an increasingly familiar, grim scene in Afghanistan, after a suicide bomber drove into a convoy of foreign troops in the southern city of Kandahar. Dubbed "Bomb City" by Afghans, Kandahar has been the site of a string of suicide attacks unleashed by a resurgent Taliban.This year, militants have launched a record number of suicide attacks and roadside bombings. According to a NATO estimate, there have been an average of 9.4 attacks a day in recent weeks.Sixty-five members of the U.S. military have been killed this year as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. NATO deaths have skyrocketed to 50 this year, up from four in 2005.In an interview in USA Today, outgoing U.S. Commander in Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry said NATO countries must commit more troops ready to serve anywhere in the country to fight against the Taliban.The heaviest fighting has been in southern Afghanistan, including Kandahar and Helmand Provinces, where American, Canadian and British troops have taken the brunt of the casualties. But Germany, Italy and Spain have committed troops to the mission with the requirement that their forces be limited to operations in Kabul and the relatively calmer provinces in the north and west.At a NATO summit last week, President Bush called for a full commitment from all member countries.GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States: Taliban, and al-Qaida fighters, and drug traffickers, and criminal elements, and local warlords remain active and committed to destroying democracy in Afghanistan. Defeating them will require the full commitment of our alliance. For NATO to succeed, its commanders on the ground must have the resources and flexibility they need to do their jobs. RAY SUAREZ: But French President Jacques Chirac balked at the request to expand his country's commitment.Meanwhile, a new report by the U.N. and World Bank found that efforts to crack down on Afghanistan's opium trade are stymied by corruption. Production this year has reached a new high, and 90 percent of the world's heroin comes from Afghanistan's poppies.In another recent report, the Pentagon and the State Department found the American-trained Afghan police force is, quote, "far from adequate."