US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is in Afghanistan today bringing President Hamid Karzai the promise of increased aid.
With central government weak, warlordism rife and the Taliban and its allies resurgent, Mr Rumsfeld arrived to discover there had been a Taliban attack near the Pakistani border hours before he arrived.
There were also protests in the Afghan capital Kabul against the presence of US-led forces President Hamid Karzai's failure to bring security to many parts of the country. Some called for the return of the Taliban.
Mr Rumsfeld who is currently meeting Mr Karzai will tell him that a large increase in financial aid will be announced by president George W Bush will in the next few weeks.
But he will also be told that Washington sees no need to increase the number of American forces in Afghanistan though there are plans to double the provincial reconstruction teams to eight.
The new teams, which coordinate reconstruction projects, would be placed in Bagram, Jalalabad, Herat and Kandahar, an anonymous US administration source said.
Mr Rumsfeld's visit coincides with a wave of bloodshed that has claimed over 220 lives in the last month alone.
US special forces and Afghan troops have been fighting up to 1,000 Taliban fighters and supporters in the troubled province of Zabul. US military spokesman Colonel Rodney Davis said between 10 and 26 "enemy fighters" were believed killed in clashes overnight in the Dai Chopan district of Zabul.