NATO Admits Error In Taliban Casualty Figures

Kandahar Governor Tooryalai Wesa (right, facing camera) greets Taliban fighters as they peacefully surrender arms during a meeting with Afghan government officials as part of the government's peace and reintegration process in Kandahar in 2011.

The U.S.-led military command in Afghanistan has admitted that an error led it to erroneously claim a fall in the number of attacks by the Taliban last year.

A report posted on the website of the NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) had claimed that there had been a 7 percent drop in "enemy-initiated attacks" in 2012.

The figure was later removed from the website.

Coalition officials say the force is preparing to publish corrected numbers showing that the insurgent attacks in 2012 remained at the same level as in 2011.

Western officials have pointed to decreasing violence in Afghanistan as a sign that ISAF’s mission is meeting with success.

Most foreign troops are scheduled to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

The U.S. Senate on February 26 voted to confirm Chuck Hagel as that country's new defense secretary.

Based on reporting by AFP and AP