Interview: Taliban, spies and drugs: "Afghanistan is at a crucial juncture. U.S. President Barack Obama has announced a troop surge of 30,000 to win the war but in the United States and in Europe public support for the NATO mission is fading -- also because Taliban are killing an increasing number of Western soldiers.
Rolf Tophoven, the director of the Institute for Terrorism Research and Security Policy, a German security consultancy and Germany's most senior terrorism expert, spent a week in Afghanistan talking to NATO troops and intelligence officers to analyze the security situation on the ground. United Press International's Berlin Correspondent Stefan Nicola spoke to Tophoven about the mission's decreasing popularity, negotiations with the Taliban, the problems linked to the drug trade and the prospect of a U.S. troop withdrawal starting in July 2011. Second of two parts."
