Taliban's attack in Lashkar Gah

Taliban fighters launched an assault on government buildings and the United Nations office in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital of the southern region of Helmand, just hours after the international conference on the future of Afghanistan in London closed.

A new fund aimed at reducing the Taliban threat was announced at the conference - the fund sets aside $140m for the first year of a programme to "reintegrate" moderate Taliban into the Afghan society.

The Taliban released a statement dismissing the initiative as "futile".

Al Jazeera's David Chater reports from Kabul.
[January, 29, 2010]