Nearly five years after the fall of the Taliban, Afghanistan’s security situation continues to be dra-gged down by endemic corruption, roving militias and a growing nexus between narco-warlords and remnants of the Taliban, analysts say.

And there are indications of a deepening instability. More than 70 foreign troops, mostly Americans, have been killed this past year, making it the deadliest period since the conflict began. Violence, meanwhile, seems to be spreading beyond the volatile south, encroaching on areas formerly considered outside the zones of conflict.

“What is often labelled as Taliban violence is not in actuality,” says Joanna Nathan, an analyst for the International Crisis Group in Kabul. “It’s a whole set of fluid alliances, cross-border attacks from Pakistan, drugs, tribal feuds, and of course the Taliban.” What these security issues have in common, she and others say, is the poor governance and official corruption among provincial governors, police chiefs and others tasked with securing the country and bringing development. The implication: Stabilising the country increasingly means providing better government.

In the past, violence rarely spilled beyond the south, where NATO troops are slowly replacing US forc-es. But recent attacks have cropped up in the north and west, too: Rockets slammed into a NGO and a house in the northeastern province of Badakhshan on April 25; also on the same day, two bomb blasts along the road to Kabul’s airport wounded three people. That follow-ed a rocket attack near the US Embassy and the presidential palace.

Many governors and chiefs of police, rather than confronting the Taliban and neutralising drug lords, are increasingly intertwined with them, either for political or monetary gain. Amid the lawlessness, military intelligence has become a political game, a tool for blackmail or settling old scores.

President Hamid Karzai has replaced or re-assigned a number of governors in an effort to tackle the problems. Badsha Khan, for example, once the governor of Paktia Province, was removed in 2002 amid allegations of corruption and passing information to US forces that led to the bombing of his political enemies. But many such types remain. Government officials insist they are cracking down, but Kabul’s writ is still weak in many places. Even the more sanguine government officials, when speaking off the record, say that collusion between governors and the Taliban has hampered counter-terrorism.

More than breeding resentment, corruption is playing into the hands of the Taliban. Remedies, such as there are, include more concerted efforts to disarm illegal militias.

So far, some 60,000 people have been disarmed under a UN initiative, but many observers say greater resources and political will need to be put toward this effort. The arrival of NATO troops in the south might also bolster security, provided that such an effort is coupled with serious commitments to governance and nation-building. — The Christian Science Monitor