Taliban territory control in Afghanistan has increased in recent months, U.S. watchdog says

The Taliban has increased the amount of territory it influencesor controls in Afghanistan in the past six months, a U.S. watchdog agency reported Tuesday.

The findings come even as the United States has committed several thousand more troops to the war-torn country.

As of August, 13 per cent of the 407 districts in Afghanistan were under Taliban control or influence, compared with11 per cent in February, according to a report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).

That means an additional 700,000 people now live in districts where the Taliban has some influence.

Afghanistan's worsening security situation was highlighted on Tuesday when a suicide bomber in the capital of Kabulkilled as many as eight people and wounded many others. The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the attack.

Security had already been stepped up considerably following a devastating truck bomb attack outside the GermanEmbassy on May 31 that killed at least 150 people, with a series of barriers and checkpoints across the central area of the city.

Afghan and Western security officials have said in recent days that they expected more attacks in Kabul in response to pressure on the Taliban and other insurgent groups by increased U.S. airstrikes.

The increase in the campaign of U.S. airstrikes in recent months is part of a new strategy aimed at reversing Taliban gains and forcing the insurgents to seek peace talks with the Afghan government.

The SIGAR report also said there had been a 52 per cent increase in civilian casualties from coalition and Afghan air strikes in the first nine months of 2017 compared with the same period in 2016.