A suicide bomber killed a provincial intelligence officer and wounded three policemen in the eastern Afghan province of Khost today.
The incident took place in the Baak district of Khost province, some 150 km (90 miles) east of the capital Kabul.
"The suicide bomber on foot attacked the detective while he was going to work," provincial district governor Sayed Ahmad Khan said. "No civilians were killed or wounded in the attack."
Taliban militants have vowed to intensify their attacks in Afghanistan this year, using suicide and roadside bombings in a campaign to bring down the Afghan government and eject the international forces that support it.
Violence in Afghanistan will escalate in 2009 unless the United States and other countries move quickly to counter an intensifying Taliban insurgency with troops and assistance, the top US military officer said last night.
"The trends, across-the-board, are not going in the right direction," Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters.
Afghanistan, which has seen violence soar over the past two years, needs not only military assistance from the West but also major infusions of economic, diplomatic and political aid, according to Admiral Mullen.
"It's been very, very tough fighting this year and it will be tougher next year unless we (develop) a way to get at all aspects of the challenge," he said.
"It's the full spectrum - the political piece, the diplomatic piece, the economic piece, in addition to the security piece - that's got to improve dramatically."
But he said the United States, Nato and other countries have failed so far to forge the kind of strategic unity necessary to stem the rise in violence.
"One of the big struggles we have is developing a comprehensive approach to all of this," the admiral said. "We're just not there. I don't think it's going to turn around overnight. So I would anticipate next year being a tougher year."