They could have been teenage girls at a Justin Bieber concert. But this adoring crowd was made up of North Korean troops and the star of the show was Kim Jong Un.

The world's only hereditary communist dictator was shown on state television Friday being mobbed by chanting soldiers. At some points, they were seen jumping on the spot while keeping their hands in the air.

---

Kim was filmed at a lookout post, surveying the scene with binoculars, and also on a naval vessel.

One group of soldiers was so overcome with apparent emotion that they charged into the sea to continue praising him. Kim waved them away from his boat.

The portrayal of Kim as a much-loved military leader came after North Korea threatened Thursday that it could launch a "pre-emptive nuclear attack" on its enemies. That warning came a few hours before the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to impose new sanctions on the isolated state over its recent nuclear bomb test.

The troops' apparent joy was in marked contrast to the daily lives of millions in North Korea. 

According to the CIA’s World Factbook, North Koreans risk arrest and imprisonment when crossing the border into China "to escape famine, economic privation, and political oppression."

Human Rights Watch accuses North Korea’s government of continuing "to systematically violate the rights of its citizens, including by depriving large sectors of its population of food, applying collective punishments and forced labor and interning more than 200,000 people in sub-human conditions in political prison camps where they are denied their basic humanity."

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BAMAKO, Mali — French troops launched their first ground operation against Islamist rebels in Mali on Wednesday in a crucial action to dislodge al-Qaida-linked fighters who have resisted six days of airstrikes.

France called for international support against Islamist insurgents it says are a threat to Africa and the West and acknowledged it faced a long fight against well-equipped and determined militant fighters who seized Mali's vast desert north last year.

---

After Islamist threats to exact revenge for France's dramatic intervention, an al-Qaida-linked group claimed responsibility for a raid on a gas field in Algeria in a number of foreign workers were believed to have been kidnapped.

A column of French armored vehicles moved into position on Tuesday at the town of Niono, 190 miles from the capital Bamako. With the Malian army securing the northern region near the Mauritanian border, Islamist fighters were encircled in the nearby town of Diabaly.

French army chief Edouard Guillaud said his ground forces were starting their campaign against the alliance of Islamist fighters, grouping al-Qaida's North African wing AQIM with Mali's home grown Ansar Dine and MUJWA militant movements.

"In the coming hours — but I cannot tell you if it's in one hour or 72 hours — yes, of course we will be fighting them directly," he told Europe 1 radio.

In Niono, a resident reported seeing French and Malian troops in armored vehicles heading toward Islamist rebel lines. Fighting was reported in Diabaly but it was not immediately clear if French ground forces were involved.

Human shields
Guillaud said French military strikes were being hampered because militants were using the civilian population as a shield.

"We categorically refuse to make the civilian population take a risk. If in doubt, we will not shoot," he said. Residents who fled Diabaly confirmed the Islamists had used the towns inhabitants to protect themselves in recent days.

French fighter jets, meanwhile, struck the headquarters of the Islamic police in Niafunke, a small town on the Niger river near the ancient caravan route of Timbuktu, residents said.

Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian acknowledged that France faced a difficult operation, particularly in Western Mali where AQIM's mostly foreign fighters have camps.

"It's tough. We were aware from the beginning it would be a very difficult operation," Le Drian said.

French President Francois Hollande said on Tuesday French forces would remain in Mali until stability returned to the West African nation. Hollande said France hoped, however, to hand over to African forces in its former colony, "in the coming days or weeks."

The conflict in Mali raised concerns across mostly Muslim West Africa of a radicalization of Islam in the region. In Senegal, a traditionally moderate Islamic country, President Macky Sall warned citizens to be vigilant for attacks.

"We must be on the watch in our towns and villages because infiltrations are taking place," he said in a speech on Tuesday. "You will hear foreign preachers talking in the name of Islam. You must denounce them to authorities."

The fighting in Mali, a landlocked state at the heart of West Africa, has displaced an estimated 30,000 people. Hundreds have fled across the border into neighboring Mauritania and Niger in recent days.

"We were all afraid. Many young fighters have enrolled with them recently," said Mahamadou Abdoulaye, 35, a truck driver who fled from the northern Gao region of Mali into Niger. "They are newly arrived, they cannot manage their weapons properly. There's fear on everybody's face."

Additional reporting by Tiemoko Diallo and Adama Diarra in Bamako, Lamine Chikhi in Algiers, Alexandra Hudson in Berlin; Writing by Daniel Flynn; Editing by David Lewis and Giles Elgood

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Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

The decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan and build up local forces “as quickly as possible” has contributed to “insider attacks,” three senators said Wednesday in a joint statement criticizing the Obama administration’s policies.

On Sunday, four U.S. soldiers were killed in an attack suspected of being carried out by members of the Afghan police; that came a day after two British soldiers were shot dead by an Afghan policeman.

---

On Monday, officials told NBC News that most joint U.S.-Afghan military operations had been suspended because of the attacks.

“We’re to the point now where we can’t trust these people,” a senior military official said.

US-Afghan military operations suspended after attacks

So far this year, 51 NATO troops have been killed in these so-called blue-on-green attacks.

On Wednesday, Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said in a statement that “in light of the tragic recent attacks on U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, we understand and respect the rationale for scaling back combined operations between coalition and Afghan troops.”

“However, we also believe this decision raises questions about the broader strategy that the Obama administration has been pursuing in this conflict, especially with respect to its timetable for drawing down our military forces in Afghanistan,” they said.

Four US soldiers killed in Afghan 'insider' attack

The statement said the administration had “repeatedly deployed fewer forces than our commanders recommended” over the last three years and “is now drawing down those forces in larger numbers and at a faster pace than our commanders advised.”

“Our military leaders have testified to Congress that these decisions have put our mission in Afghanistan at greater risk, and those risks are now becoming more apparent,” the senators said. “In particular, we are concerned that the rush to build up the Afghan National Security Forces as quickly as possible -- so that U.S. forces could begin withdrawing on the Administration's timetable -- has contributed to the problem of the so-called 'insider attacks'.”

They said President Barack Obama had said the drawdown of U.S. forces would be in response to conditions on the ground.

“We believe those conditions are now worrisome enough to justify an immediate suspension of further U.S. troop withdrawals at this time,” the senators said. “The purpose of this 'strategic pause' should be to give our commanders time to evaluate the effects of recent troop withdrawals and to offer their best military advice on how we can achieve our goals in Afghanistan, while preventing further attacks on our forces and those of our allies. We cannot afford to rush to failure in Afghanistan.”

Responding to the statement, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said President Obama believes the transition to an Afghan security lead is "absolutely essential" after more than a decade of war.

"We have expended a great deal of blood and treasure in that effort," Carney said Wednesday. "And it is through the heroic and remarkable service of our men and women in uniform in particular that we are at a place now where Afghan security forces have developed capabilities and have developed the numbers that allows them to gradually take over security lead."

Carney added that the green-on-blue attacks are "a very concerning problem," and U.S. officials are working to protect against such attacks, but the transition process will not be affected.

NBC's Libby Leist and Ali Weinberg contributed to this report.

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KABUL, Afghanistan -- It was once President Barack Obama's "war of necessity." Now, it's America's forgotten war.

The Afghan conflict generates barely a whisper on the U.S. presidential campaign trail. It's not a hot topic at the office water cooler or in the halls of Congress — even though more than 80,000 American troops are still fighting here and dying at a rate of one a day.

Americans show more interest in the economy and taxes than the latest suicide bombings in a different, distant land. They're more tuned in to the political ad war playing out on television than the deadly fight still raging against the Taliban. Earlier this month, protesters at the Iowa State Fair chanted "Stop the war!" They were referring to one purportedly being waged against the middle class.

---

By the time voters go to the polls Nov. 6 to choose between Obama and presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney, the war will be in its 12th year. For most Americans, that's long enough.

'Bumper sticker deep'
Public opinion remains largely negative toward the war, with 66 percent opposed to it and just 27 percent in favor in a May AP-GfK poll. More recently, a Quinnipiac University poll found that 60 percent of registered voters felt the U.S. should no longer be involved in Afghanistan. Just 31 percent said the U.S. is doing the right thing by fighting there now.

Not since the Korean War of the early 1950s — a much shorter but more intense fight — has an armed conflict involving America's sons and daughters captured so little public attention.

"We're bored with it," said Matthew Farwell, who served in the U.S. Army for five years including 16 months in eastern Afghanistan, where he sometimes received letters from grade school students addressed to the brave Marines in Iraq — the wrong war.

"We all laugh about how no one really cares," he said. "All the 'support the troops' stuff is bumper sticker deep."

Top US general's aircraft hit by rocket-fire in Afghanistan

Farwell, 29, who is now studying at the University of Virginia, said the war is rarely a topic of conversation on campus — and he isn't surprised that it's not discussed much on the campaign trail.

"No one understands how to extricate ourselves from the mess we have made there," he said. "So from a purely political point of view, I wouldn't be talking about it if I were Barack Obama or Mitt Romney either."

Ignoring the Afghan war, though, doesn't make it go away.

According to the defense department's latest tally (updated on August 21, 2012 at 10 a.m. ET), 1,972 Americans have died in Afghanistan since President George W. Bush launched attacks there in October 2001 to rout al-Qaida.

The terrorist group used Afghanistan to train recruits and plot the Sept. 11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 Americans.

If casualties in other countries are included, the number of Americans killed since the start of the war is 2,091.

According to an analysis of U.S. forces killed in the war by The New York Times, three out of four who died were white, nine out of 10 were enlisted service members and the average age of those who died was 26. Half of the deaths were in Afghanistan's Kandahar or Helmand provinces — in the country's Taliban-dominated south, the Times reported.

The war drags on even though al-Qaida has been largely driven out of Afghanistan and its charismatic leader Osama bin Laden is dead — slain in a U.S. raid on his Pakistani hideout last year.

Strangely, Afghanistan never seemed to grab the same degree of public and media attention as the war in Iraq, which Obama opposed as a "war of choice."

Unlike Iraq, victory in Afghanistan seemed to come quickly. Kabul fell within weeks of the U.S. invasion in October 2001. The hardline Taliban regime was toppled with few U.S. casualties.

But the Bush administration's shift toward war with Iraq left the Western powers without enough resources on the ground, so by 2006 the Taliban had regrouped into a serious military threat.

Candidate Obama promised to refocus America's resources on Afghanistan. But by the time President Obama sent 33,000 more troops to Afghanistan in December 2009 in a policy known as the "surge", years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan had drained Western resources and sapped resolve to build a viable Afghan state.

Army casualties during the surge were heaviest at Fort Campbell in Kentucky (home to the 101st Airborne Division) and Fort Drum in New York (home to the 10th Mountain division), according to the Times' analysis of deaths. Units at both bases were frequently deployed to Afghanistan during the surge, the Times reported.

Panetta intervenes after 10th US service member killed in 2 weeks in Afghanistan

Over time, Obama's administration has grown weary of trying to tackle Afghanistan's seemingly intractable problems of poverty and corruption. The American people have grown weary too.

While most Americans are sympathetic to the plight of the Afghan people, they have become deeply skeptical of President Hamid Karzai's willingness to tackle corruption and political patronage and the coalition's chances of "budging a medieval society" into the modern world, says Ann Marlowe, a visiting fellow at the Hudson Institute, a policy research organization in Washington.

"With millions of veterans home and talking with their families and friends ... some knowledge of just how hard this is has percolated down," said Marlowe, who has traveled to Afghanistan many times.

It has also been hard to show progress on the battlefield.

World War II had its Normandy, Vietnam its Tet Offensive and Iraq its Battle of Fallujah. Afghanistan is a grinding slough in villages and remote valleys where success is measured in increments.

The Afghan war transformed into a series of small, often vicious and intense fights scattered across a country almost as large as Texas.

What's leading Afghan troops to turn on coalition forces?

In July, 40 U.S. service members died in Afghanistan in the deadliest month for American troops so far this year. At least 31 have been killed this month — seven when a helicopter crashed during a firefight with insurgents in what was one of the deadliest air disasters of the war. Ten others were gunned down in attacks from members of the Afghan security forces — either disgruntled turncoats or Taliban infiltrators.

Many argue that bin Laden's death justifies a quick U.S. exit from Afghanistan. Others say it's important to stay longer to shore up the Afghan security forces and help build the government so that it can stand on its own. An unstable Afghanistan could again offer sanctuary to militants like al-Qaida who want to harm American and its allies, they say.

"Those of us who have been at this for a long time continue to think that it's important, and that we have a chance now of a path forward with a long-term perspective that will produce the results," said James Cunningham, the new U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan.

US forces in Afghanistan ordered to keep weapons loaded at all times

The U.S.-led coalition's combat mission will wind down in the next few years, leading up to the end of 2014 when most international troops will have left or moved into support roles.

Military analysts say the U.S. envisions a post-2014 force of perhaps 20,000 to hunt terrorists, train the Afghan forces and keep an eye on neighboring Iran and other regional powerhouse nations.

Americans aren't likely to know the number until later this year. But will anyone other than families of service personnel take note?

"I have heard others say that the danger that their spouses or children are serving in is just simply not being cared about," said Fred Wellman, a 22-year Army veteran who did three tours in Iraq. "I think a lot of veterans feel it is just forgotten."

Political satirist Garry Trudeau captured the apathy about the war in a comic strip this year showing a U.S. servicewoman stationed in Afghanistan calling her brother back home.

After he complains that his children have the flu and how he's struggling to keep up with their hectic hockey schedule, he asks her where she's calling from. She tells him she's in Afghanistan.

"Oh, right, right ..." her brother replies. "Wait, we're still there?"

The Associated Press and NBC News staff contributed to this report.

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Updated at 9:25 a.m. ET: KABUL, Afghanistan -- Three U.S. Marines were shot dead by an Afghan worker on a military base in southern Afghanistan, an Afghan official told NBC News, raising to six the number of American service members who died in rogue attacks in the country in 24 hours.

The shooting took place on Friday night in the Garmsir district of Helmand province, not far from where three U.S. Marines were killed by an Afghan gunman earlier in the day, Dawood Ahmadi, spokesman for the Helmand province governor, told NBC News' Atia Abawi on Saturday.

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In the earlier incident, an Afghan police commander opened fire on the U.S. service members after inviting them to a meeting to discuss security, according to Reuters. Another service member was injured in that attack.

Three US special ops troops killed, Afghan officials say

"Let me clearly say that those two incidents clearly do not reflect the overall situation here in Afghanistan," chief ISAF spokesman Brigadier-General Gunter Katz told journalists on Saturday.

Reuters reported that the Marines killed in the latest attack were shot dead by a base employee who turned his gun on them. Military sources said the man had not been wearing a uniform and it was unclear how he got hold of the weapon.

"We are still investigating the incident to find out about the shooter and who he actually is -- whether an Afghan soldier or a civilian," Ahmadi, the Helmand governor's spokesman, told NBC News.

In a statement, ISAF said the gunman had been detained.

On Saturday, Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai condemned the killings of all six U.S. Marines in the two incidents, calling the perpetrators of the attacks "terrorists." He added that the country's enemies did not want "a secure Afghanistan with a stable army."

Bloody week
Green on blue shootings, in which Afghan police or soldiers turn their guns on their Western colleagues, have seriously eroded trust between the allies as NATO combat soldiers prepare to hand over to Afghan forces by 2014, after which most foreign forces will leave the country. 

The NATO force says there have been 26 such attacks on foreign troops since January in which 34 people have been killed. Last year, there were 21 attacks in which 35 people were killed.

But a coalition spokesman said the killings by the Afghan worker would not be included in that tally as it did not involve a member of the Afghan security forces.

However Katz said the incidents were relatively isolated and were not hurting morale or cooperation between foreign forces and the 350,000-strong Afghan Security Forces.  

"We have almost 500,000 police and soldiers working together, side by side, enhancing their trust and enhancing their cooperation in order together to fight for a better future for this country," he said. 

Still, it was a bloody week for NATO forces in Afghanistan. Earlier on Friday, the Pentagon confirmed that three U.S. service members -- including a senior Army leader -- and an American aid worker were killed Wednesday by a suicide bomber in Kunar province.

The victims included Command Sgt. Maj. Kevin J. Griffin, the most senior enlisted soldier for the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. Griffin, 45, of Riverton, Wyo., was a Bronze Star recipient who first enlisted in the Army in 1988.

Maj. Thomas E. Kennedy, 35, of West Point, N.Y., and Air Force Maj. Walter D. Gray, 38, of Conyers, Ga., were also killed. USAID foreign service officer Ragaei Abdelfattah was identified as the other victim.

On Tuesday, two gunmen wearing Afghan army uniforms killed a U.S. soldier and wounded two others in Paktia province in the east.

Violence in Afghanistan is at its fiercest since U.S.-led Afghan troops overthrew the Taliban government in 2001. Insurgents have extended their reach from traditional strongholds in southern and eastern areas to parts of the country once considered safe.

This is a breaking news story. Check again for more updates.

NBC News' Atia Abawi, Fazl Ahad and Reuters contributed to this report.

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LONDON -- Fisher House, the Maryland-based charity which provides overnight accommodation for families visiting hospitalized military members, is expanding onto foreign soil for the first time with a facility for British troops.

Construction has begun on a $6.8-million building with 18 en-suite rooms that will allow relatives to stay close to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, where the U.K.'s most seriously wounded military personnel are treated.

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As well as providing servicemen and women a place to relax away from hospital wards, it will have communal living space including a family room, play area, lounge and kitchen and a private garden.

Fisher House, which was founded during the first Gulf War in 1990, has more than 50 projects in the U.S., as well as others located on American bases in Germany. However, this is its first truly international venture.

'Unique American model'
Talk show host and former U.S. Marine Montel Williams and the charity’s chairman, Ken Fisher, attended a ground-breaking ceremony at the site.

"This is a great honor for Fisher House, as we share with our British brothers and sisters our unique American model for caring for military families," Fisher said.

"This will be a sanctuary for the people who need it most: those who have made deep personal sacrifices – whether on the battlefield or on the home front – to keep us safe.  We thank them even though we know it will never be enough."

Almost 10,000 British troops are in combat alongside 90,000 U.S. personnel in Afghanistan. Figures from Britain's Ministry of Defence, collated by The Guardian newspaper, show 832 have been seriously wounded since Operation Enduring Freedom began in 2001.

Many families travel for hundreds of miles to be by their loved ones' bedside -- sometimes for weeks at a time, because of the need for months or even years of surgery and rehabilitation. Military accommodation exists for family members but only six bedrooms are available at Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Sue Hawkins, whose son Ed was almost killed by an improvised explosive device while on a patrol in Afghanistan in May 2010, said the new facility would "be a great source of comfort, particularly at a time when families are surrounded by so much uncertainty."

The blast killed his corporal and seriously wounded Ed, who was serving with the Royal Marines. He was flown back to Birmingham for several months of treatment.

"When we were told about Ed, we just left for the hospital," Sue Hawkins told msnbc.com. "We had no idea how long we would be there or even if he would survive. I can remember everything about that day, because of the shock, but that last thing you have time to think about it is planning where to stay."

Five-hour round trip
Faced with a daily five-hour round trip from their home in Hampshire, Sue and her husband Michael spent many nights across the road from the hospital in a former nurses' accommodation block, before moving to the military facility – a converted house in a residential street.

"There were times when Ed became very distressed and we were able to reach him quickly when the hospital called," she said. "That sort of comfort and care is very important. We know first-hand how important it is to have a 'home from home' in difficult, emotional and challenging times. Fisher House truly is a massive step in the best direction possible.”

Ed Hawkins, who is now 26, left hospital last year and is currently on a work placement.

British soldier Nick Gibbons, who lost a leg in a bomb in Afghanistan in 2008, also attended the ground-breaking ceremony on April 23. He told ITV News: "It's what you need really, your family around you. Facilities like this are great because it not only allows the family to stay here, it gives you a better relationship with your family. It's a stressful time. The last thing you want is them travelling."

Fisher House has contributed $2 million to the project, with the rest of the building cost provided by U.K. veterans' charity Help for Heroes, whose high-profile supporters include Prince Harry. It will be operated by the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Charity and funded by Help for Heroes when it opens next year.

President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle have previously made a sizeable donation to Fisher House, which also operates a Hero Miles Program that uses donated frequent flyer miles to bring family members to the bedside of injured service members. 

Montel Williams told the Birmingham Mail that he was a regular visitor to Fisher House sites in the U.S., cooking meals for soldiers and their families. "I'll definitely be coming to Birmingham to do the same," he told the newspaper. "I'll bring my sister and my chef with me and we'll rustle up things like crab cakes and fish. It'll be real American-style cooking."

Msnbc.com's David Arnott contributed to this report.

 

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Updated at 3:45 p.m. ET: Afghanistan's president on Thursday called for U.S. and other foreign forces in Afghanistan to leave villages in the country and move to larger bases instead, according to Hamid Karzai's office.

In a statement -- which comes amid the ongoing controversy over the killing of 16 Afghan civilians in Panjwai, Kandahar province, allegedly by a lone U.S. soldier -- Karzai's office said he had made the request to U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and said that "Afghan Security forces currently have the ability to secure the villages around the country."

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The statement also said that NATO-led foreign forces needed to have "complete respect for their religion and the Afghan culture. No foreign troops should enter Afghans homes. And they should pay more attention on reconstruction and financial support for our country."

"Karzai said that both sides should work on accelerating the process and that they should hand over all the security responsibilities in 2013 instead of 2014," it added.

"We demand that the process move quickly and they transfer authority into Afghan hands," it added.

In a near-simultaneous announcement, the Afghan Taliban said it was suspending nascent peace talks with the United States seen as a strong chance to end the country's decade-long conflict, blaming "shaky, erratic and vague" U.S. statements.

The White House denied Taliban accusations and insisted that Washington had been consistent in its message.

"We support an Afghan-led process toward reconciliation. There is no likely resolution to the conflict in Afghanistan without a political resolution," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters.

At the State Department, spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the U.S. is still "prepared to continue these discussions," but will "have to see where this goes now," NBC News reported. "We still feel that if there is a process that can be supported that we ought to do that ... Our only goal is to get Afghans to sit down together," she said.

Nuland said the process so far has had a "lot of ups and downs."

Gavin Sundwall, U.S. Embassy spokesman in Kabul, echoed the comments, NBC News said.

On Karzai’s statement, he also said, “The transition to Afghan security lead is already under way,” NBC News reported. “About half of all Afghans currently live in areas where Afghan security forces are taking responsibility.”

He said NATO will decide the next phase of transition including the shift of coalition forces to a support role in 2013.

'Cruel and brutal'
The announcement from Karzai's office said Panetta had "once again paid his condolences to the Afghan President and to the people of Afghanistan on the behalf of his government and his people for the Panjwai incident."

Karzai described the killings of the 16 people, including women and children, as "a cruel and brutal action."

"The President also added that this incident has lost their trust with Afghans," the statement said.

The soldier accused of carrying out the Panjwai shooting was based at a small special forces compound similar to others around the country that underpin NATO's counter-insurgency strategy.

Soldier accused in Afghan massacre flown out of country

The killings on Sunday have raised questions about Western strategy in Afghanistan and intensified calls for the withdrawal of foreign combat troops.

NYT: An Afghan elder comes home to find a massacre

Panetta discussed the massacre with Karzai at his heavily guarded palace and faced demands from the Afghan leader that any trial be transparent.

"I assured him first and foremost that I shared his regrets about what took place. I again pledged to him that we are proceeding with a full investigation here and that we will bring the individual involved to justice. He accepted that," Panetta told reporters before leaving Afghanistan.

Taliban suspends peace talks
The Afghan Taliban, which describes itself as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, said it had decided to suspend peace talks after opening a diplomatic office in Qatar earlier this year to enable talks to go ahead.

Obama, Cameron stand in united front

"It seems that the invading Americans and their stooge regime took advantage of these measures of Islamic Emirate and sought to achieve other malicious objectives and therefore are postponing the core issues and are wasting time," the Taliban said.

"So the Islamic Emirate has decided to suspend all talks with Americans taking place in Qatar from today onwards until the Americans clarify their stance on the issues concerned and until they show willingness in carrying out their promises instead of wasting time," it added.

Marines asked to disarm before Panetta speech

The austere Islamist movement said it was fully prepared to continue its "long-term Jihadi strategies" as the traditional summer fighting months approached, following a harsh winter which had dulled fighting in several volatile provinces.

In the latest attack, a roadside bomb killed 13 Afghan civilians, including women and children, and wounded two on Thursday in the south of the country, provincial officials said.

More than 3,000 civilians were killed in the war in Afghanistan in 2011, the fifth year in a row the number has risen, according to the United Nations.

NBC News and Reuters contributed to this report.

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PAKTIKA, Afghanistan - Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, standing less than 34 miles from the Pakistan border, told U.S. troops Wednesday they have reached a turning point in the war, even as he demanded that Islamabad must do more to secure its side of the border.

Visiting with forces in Paktika, Panetta asserted that, "I really think that for all the sacrifices that you're doing, the reality is that it is paying off and that we're moving in the right direction ... We're winning this very tough conflict here in Afghanistan."

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However, his upbeat assessment of the war came against a backdrop of the eroding relations with Pakistan, which imposed a communications blackout on the U.S.-led coalition after NATO airstrikes killed two dozen Pakistani forces last month. And there has been an ongoing spate of high-profile attacks in Kabul and across the south, including one Wednesday that killed a local government official and two bodyguards in Helmand province.

• Story: US halts $700 million in aid to Pakistan, demands action on Taliban bombs

While U.S. officials have suggested that there may be some move to thaw the frigid tensions, Panetta made it clear that the U.S. still wants Pakistan to go after the insurgents who are launching attacks against U.S. forces from sanctuaries on that side of the border.

"Ultimately, we've got to make sure that if we're going to secure this country (Afghanistan), the Pakistanis better damn well secure their country as well," Panetta told the troops.

Panetta's visit to Paktika comes as the country's rugged east, where insurgents cross back and forth from lawless areas of western Pakistan, takes on increasing importance following the weakening of the Taliban in its southern heartland over the past 18 months.

"Are there challenges out there? You're damn right there are challenges," Panetta said. "Are we able to take on those challenges? You're damn right we are."

More work to do
The Pentagon chief has been meeting with his commanders in Afghanistan for two days, and also took time out to address a gathering of the diplomatic corps at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. There, he seemed to back away a bit from his contention that the war was being won.

Panetta stressed that there was more work to do, saying it was "not to say that this mission is by any means accomplished — it's not."

U.S. military leaders, meanwhile, echoed Panetta's view that they have seen progress both in the south — the heartland of the Taliban insurgency — as well as in the east. They acknowledge, though, that there will be tough fighting in the east next year as the U.S. works to reverse gains made by militants who find sanctuary on the Pakistan side of the border.

• Defense Secretary Leon Panetta visits Afghanistan amid rising violence

U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, who directs day-to-day military operations in Afghanistan, told reporters that he believes the Taliban have been handed a tactical defeat in the south, where troops now need to consolidate the gains. But he agreed that next year, as another 23,000 U.S. troops are pulled out of Afghanistan, the coalition and Afghan forces will have to make major gains in the east.

Scaparrotti and commanders in the east agreed that improved coordination with Pakistan is critical, and without improvement it will make the campaign in the region much more difficult next year.

On Tuesday, Marine Gen. John Allen, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, said that U.S. troops will begin to move into the advisory role next year, stepping back from their current counterinsurgency mission with Afghan forces. Over time, U.S. and NATO forces would provide training and guidance, air support, and other assistance as the Afghan troops take the lead.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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KABUL - Defense Secretary Leon Panetta arrived in Kabul on Tuesday for an unannounced visit at a time of persistent violence and as the United States and its Western allies are reducing troop levels in Afghanistan.

NBC News reported he touched down in Kabul at 4:44 p.m. local time (7:14 a.m. ET) in what is his second trip to Afghanistan as the Pentagon chief.

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He was greeted off the plane by the commander of NATO ISAF forces, General John Allen, Ambassador Crocker, and the commander of ISAF Joint Command General Scaparotti.

Panetta's visit comes on the heels of bomb attacks on Shiite Muslim ceremonies in three Afghan cities. Afghan President Hamid Karzai said the attacks killed 80 people.

NATO commanders say that a "surge" of more than 30,000 U.S. troops in 2009-2010 helped push the Taliban out of some areas of its southern heartland.

• Story: Hunt for terrorists shifts to 'dangerous' North Africa, Panetta says

But the United Nations and other groups say violence nationwide is at its worst since U.S.-backed Afghan forces toppled the Taliban from power in late 2001.

Afghanistan's future remains unclear as the government and its Western allies race to train and expand the national police and army while foreign troops start heading home.

The Obama administration plans to withdraw its surge troops by the end of next fall, leaving about 68,000 American soldiers.

Most foreign combat troops are expected to leave by the end of 2014, when the Afghan government is due to have complete control of security across the country.

• Story: US halts $700 million in aid to Pakistan, demands action on Taliban bombs

The gradual transition to Afghan control began this summer, and a second phase announced late last month will mean more than half the population is living in areas where security has been handed over officially.

NBC News said issues likely to be discussed during his visit included supply routes being cut off from Pakistan. The U.S. is still sending supplies through the air from the north and south, but the Pakistanis have cut off the ground lines. 

NBC News and Reuters contributed to this report.

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