IT MAY seem frivolous to observe that Taliban fighters are image conscious. They see themselves as brave warriors fighting and dying for their cause. Turning oneself into a human munition in a public place with all the indiscriminate mayhem this implies does not fit well with this self-image, which is why there is no tradition of suicide bombing in Afghanistan. But in recent weeks events have taken a sinister turn. The Taliban seem to be adopting roadside bombs and suicide attacks, more redolent of the Iraqi insurgency.

Last year there were just 11 suicide attacks in Afghanistan. So far this year there have been 67. In a single day last week, 19 people were killed in a string of suicide bombings. On Tuesday at least 20, including 12 civilians, were killed by similarmeans. Like the Taliban, the Iraqi insurgents are predominantly Sunni Muslims, though there are no known links between them. Yet the sophistication of some of the techniques and equipment used in recent Taliban operations suggests they are pooling information. Another possibility is that suicide bombers of Arab extraction are being trained and equipped in remote north-west Pakistan before moving across the porous border into southern Afghanistan. Words will not have been minced last night when Presiidents Karzai of Afghanistan and Musharraf of Pakistan met President Bush at the White House. A recent truce signed with warlords in the remote border

areas of Wurzistan prompted accusations that the Pakistani government is capitulating to the Taliban, enabling the tribal belt to become the engine room of the insurgency. The situation is aggravated by the Taliban making common cause with Afghan poppy farmers and drug smugglers. A bumper crop is pouring money into the insurgency.

To end this vicious circle, the allies are likely to need more troops and better equipment, especially helicopters and bomb-proof vehicles. A start must be made urgently on reconstruction. In addition, a scheme to divert the poppy harvest into the legal diamorphine trade should be considered.

Hope would be a powerful weapon against the insurgency but it is in desperately short supply. No-one wants to return to Taliban rule, when a child could be punished for flying a kite. Unless their lives improve, however, Afghans will be prone to viewing Nato forces as merely the latest wave of colonial aggressors.