Sept. 5 (Bloomberg) -- The Taliban is gaining ground in Afghanistan due to ``misguided'' policies of the U.S.-led coalition and NATO that focus on fighting insurgents rather than combating poverty, a security and drugs policy analyst said.

U.S.- and U.K.-led counter-narcotic programs in Afghanistan to eradicate the cultivation of opium poppies, and ongoing military campaigns in the south, have accelerated the insurgency and led many Afghans to support the Taliban, the Senlis Council said today in a 217-page report.

``The Taliban has de facto military control of half of Afghanistan, as well as strong psychological control,'' Emmanuel Reinert, executive director of the council, told reporters in London. ``Because the Taliban is helping ordinary people, support for them is growing.''

Afghan, coalition and North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces this year have faced a resurgent Taliban, mainly in southern Afghanistan. The Taliban have stepped up attacks, including suicide bombings, in response to military efforts to extend the influence of the central government into remote eastern and southern provinces.

Violence and poppy eradication programs have forced thousands of Afghans into makeshift camps after they fled their homes in the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar, Reinert said. Coalition efforts need to be aimed at feeding people rather than destroying poppies, their only source of income, he said.

``These people are starving; they don't have access to clean water; children are dying,'' Reinert said.

One camp, called Mokhtar, houses 6,000 families in tents and mud huts, and is a short distance from the U.K.'s main military base in Lashkar Gar, Helmand province, he said. Across Helmand and Kandahar, at least 10 informal camps are home to more than 1,000 people each, according to the report.

Bombing, Poppy Eradication

Many people in camps have told Senlis Council researchers they have fled areas of coalition bombing and poppy eradication, Reinert said. The council, with offices in Kabul, Brussels, London and Paris, has 50 researchers in Afghanistan.

The international and Afghan forces won't ``win the hearts and minds of people'' if they attack their livelihood, even if it is the poppy crop, Reinert said. ``They do it for need, not for greed. They do it to feed their families.''

According to the U.S. State Department, Afghan national and regional government programs, supported by the international community, eradicated 15,400 hectares (38,038 acres) of poppies this year. At the same time, Afghan poppy cultivation soared 59 percent this year to 165,000 hectares, with the central Asian nation now providing 92 percent of the world supply of opium, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Similar to Hezbollah

The Taliban have been ``clever'' to exploit the situation, by protecting the crop and employing fighters in the south, paying them as much as $500 a month, Reinert said. The Taliban now controls almost all of the roads and towns in Kandahar and Helmand, and are moving toward providing a role similar to the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon, including taking charge of justice and health care, he said.

Control over Kandahar, Helmand and four other southern provinces was transferred to a NATO-led force by the U.S.-led coalition on July 31. While NATO's remit is to support reconstruction efforts, the result has been ``more of the same,'' with the alliance's International Security Assistance Force becoming increasingly involved in counter-insurgency operations, Reinert said.

NATO troops are conducting Operation Medusa in Kandahar's Panjwayi district, to target Taliban strongholds. More than 200 insurgents have been killed since the maneuvers began on Sep. 2, according to the alliance. Four Canadian soldiers have also been killed in action during the operation, and 14 British military personnel who were supporting it were killed when their reconnaissance plane crashed on Sep. 2.

Focus on Poverty

The NATO operation follows similar efforts by the coalition this year that led to the deaths of hundreds of Taliban. The U.S. military said on Aug. 4 that it had killed, wounded and caught more than 1,100 rebels during a six-week operation in the south that preceded the security handover.

ISAF, whose goal is to bring stability and aid reconstruction efforts, comprises 18,500 soldiers from 37 nations, and the 26- nation coalition numbers more than 26,000 soldiers, including about 18,500 Americans. The coalition has responsibility for eastern Afghanistan and for anti-terrorism operations across the country.

The onus for establishing security lies on international forces rather then the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai, Reinert said, adding that the military strategy needs to be changed so that relieving poverty becomes the international community's main goal in Afghanistan.

``There is an urgent need to refocus on the broader cause of instability by tackling the problem of poverty,'' Reinert said. ``We have to break this cycle of violence, and it's not the Taliban who are going to do it.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 5, 2006 11:19 EDT