Three weeks after Afghanistan's presidential election, the embattled central Asian country looks as far away from stability as ever as fighting on the ground and eroding public support in Western countries gather pace.

As if to underline how distant peace appears to be in Afghanistan and how volatile the security situation continues to be, a NATO airstrike Thursday night on two fuel tankers hijacked by the Taliban resulted in the loss of 90 lives, more than 40 of them civilians, according to police and government officials in Kunduz Province.

According to official sources, the trucks were transporting fuel to NATO forces along the highway connecting Kunduz with the neighboring province of Baghlan when militants stopped them.

A statement from the German army's Operations Command in the area said troops from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) discovered the Taliban distributing the fuel to a crowd of villagers after they took the trucks to Kunduz's Chardarah district. The ISAF troops then engaged the militants in a fire fight. No civilians or German soldiers were injured in the battle. The German statement said that NATO planes then launched the attack in response to a call for air support.

German military confirm air attack

While the German military did not say whether the airstrike was responsible for the tanker blast, a German army spokesman in Berlin admitted that the tankers exploded during the battle. Kunduz provincial Governor Mohammad Omar later said that local residents claimed a military jet fired at the tanker, setting off the explosion.

Captain Jon Stock, press officer for ISAF, later told the Reuters news agency: "I can confirm that there was an airstrike last night or early this morning. ISAF's target in the air raid was insurgents." However, he said he was unable to comment on the reports of the blast.

In the wake of the attack, reports of casualties at the scene varied, with the German army saying that 56 militants were killed in the blast while the local authorities put the number of civilian dead at 45. A security officer who asked to remain anonymous told reporters that 200 people were killed and wounded in the explosion while residents put the number of casualties at 300.

European leaders begin to speak out

Following the attack, British Prime Minster Gordon Brown confirmed that he would not be backing down or changing the government's Afghanistan policy in any way.

Speaking at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London, Brown said that the stability of the volatile region, spanning the Afghan-Pakistan border, had a profound impact on the security of Britain and the rest of the international community.

"We cannot just walk away," said Brown, adding that the objectives in the conflict were "clear, justified, realistic and achievable."

Brown announced that his government would provide an extra 20 million pounds (23 million euros/$32 million) to help stabilization and security efforts in Helmand province, where British troops are based. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband called for an "urgent investigation" into the NATO airstrike.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen responded by saying that there would be a thorough investigation into the incident.

"The Afghan people should know that we are clearly committed to protecting them and that we will fully and immediately investigate this incident," Rasmussen told reporters.

Increased instability in previously safe north

The incident is likely to cause more outrage among an Afghan population which has been increasingly angered and frustrated by the rising civilian death toll and the apparent failure of the Western forces to stabilize the country.

The airstrike also serves as another example of the disintegrating state of security in the previously safe northern provinces of the country and the overall doggedness and endurance of the Taliban across the whole of Afghanistan. Despite US military surges and diverted troop deployments from Iraq, many areas of the country remain in a state of war.

The presidential vote on August 20, which was meant to be an indication of how far the country had come since the end of Taliban rule eight years ago, was marred by violence and intimidation as counter-insurgents targeted polling stations as well as Afghan soldiers and ISAF troops.

mrm/nda/dpa/AP/Reuters
Editor: Chuck Penfold