May 2 (Bloomberg) -- Afghanistan will recruit about 19,000 more police officers to help tackle the Taliban insurgency, the international body tasked with overseeing the country's reconstruction said in a statement.

``There have been some unexpected challenges from insecurity in the south and southeast of the country,'' said Ishaq Nadiri, senior economic adviser to President Hamid Karzai and co-chairman of the Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board.

The number of Afghan National Police will be increased to 82,000, the board said in a statement yesterday after meeting in the Afghan capital, Kabul. The police force currently stands at about 63,000 officers, according to the U.S. Defense Department.

The Taliban have stepped up attacks over the past year in the south and east in an attempt to destabilize Karzai's government. The rebels have about 3,000 fighters, Major General David Rodriguez, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said earlier this month, compared with about 37,000 NATO personnel, 10,000 U.S. soldiers carrying out anti-terrorism operations and 35,000 trained and equipped soldiers in the Afghan National Army.

More than 2,000 North Atlantic Treaty Organization soldiers and Afghan personnel began Operation Silicon two days ago aimed at driving Taliban fighters from Sangin Valley in southern Helmand province. The U.K.-led offensive is part of an attempt, codenamed Operation Achilles, that began in March to defeat insurgents in the province. Helmand is the center of the country's opium production.

Taliban Killed

About 75 suspected Taliban fighters were killed on the first day of the Sangin Valley operation and one British soldier was wounded, Associated Press reported yesterday, citing U.K. Major Dominic Biddick.

Afghan and coalition forces killed five insurgents late yesterday as they tried to drive through a security checkpoint 80 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of Qalat in southern Kandahar province, the U.S. military said in an e-mailed statement today. Three insurgents escaped during the gunfight.

The JCMB reviews progress made under the so-called Afghanistan Compact, agreed at a conference in London last year, which set out a five-year timeframe for improving security, governance, rule of law, human rights and economic and social development in the country.

Since the board first met a year ago, school enrolment has increased by an estimated 12 percent to 5.4 million students, 35 percent of them girls and 82 percent of Afghans have access to basic health services, according to the statement.

``More roads have been built, troop sizes are up and in most areas forward momentum is being maintained,'' said Tom Koenigs, co-chairman of the board and United Nations Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon's special representative for Afghanistan.

The board called on Karzai's government to draft a national anti-corruption strategy by October and start planning for the 2009 elections.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ed Johnson in Sydney at ejohnson28@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: May 2, 2007 02:00 EDT