The number of former fighters in the Afghan peace and reintegration program has grown from around 4,000 in late 2011 to 4,946 today, said Major General David Hook, who leads the NATO cell assisting the Afghan-led effort, AFP reported. 

 

The Afghanistan Peace and Reintegration Program began in October 2010 and offers a stipend of $360 over three months to ease fighters out of the battlefield, Hook said.

 

"The figures continue to trend very gently up," the British officer told reporters during a visit to NATO headquarters in Brussels.

 

The program has had great success in the north and west of the country, allowing Afghan security forces to focus on fighting in Taliban hotbeds elsewhere, he said.

 

"Has it made a dent in terms of a nationwide perspective? Probably not," Hook said, refusing to provide estimates of the overall Taliban force.

 

The number of people joining the program grew by 60 percent between November 2011 and March 2012 compared to any other four-month period, he said. In the east alone, the number jumped 300 percent.

 

"Is it having an effect across the whole of Afghanistan in what I would think of in military and strategic terms? No. Is it having an operational-level effect, yes it is," Hook said.

 

"In the north and west, where integration has been its most successful, we now have latitude to have a discussion with the Afghans about the Afghans moving battalions down to Helmand (province)," the general added.

 

The increasing number of military casualties in Afghanistan has caused widespread anger in the U.S. and other NATO member states, undermining public support for the Afghan war. 

 

According to the website icasualties.org, a total of 242 foreign troops, 180 of them U.S. personnel, have lost their lives in Afghanistan so far this year. 

 

A total of 566 U.S.-led forces died in Afghanistan in 2011. However, 2010 remains the deadliest year for foreign military casualties, with a death toll of 711. 

 

Insecurity continues to rise across Afghanistan, despite the presence of about 130,000 U.S.-led forces in the country. 

 

On July 8, as many as 28 civilians and policemen were killed in southern Kandahar and Helmand provinces of the war-torn country. 

 

The United Nations announced on February 4 that 2011 was the deadliest on record for Afghan civilians. The death toll rose eight percent compared to the year before and was roughly double the figure for 2007. 

 

Overall, 3,021 civilians died in violence related to the war and 4,507 were wounded in 2011.