The Taliban insurgency has spread through more of Afghanistan than at any point since 2001, according to data compiled by the United Nations as well as interviews with numerous local officials in areas under threat.<\/p>\n
In addition, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan over the past two weeks has evacuated four of its 13 provincial offices around the country \u201d\u201d the most it has ever done for security reasons \u201d\u201d according to local officials in the affected areas.<\/p>\n
The data, compiled in early September \u201d\u201d even before the latest surge in violence in northern Afghanistan \u201d\u201d showed that United Nations security officials had already rated the threat level in about half of the country\u2019s administrative districts as either \u201chigh\u201d\u009d or \u201cextreme,\u201d\u009d more than at any time since the American invasion ousted the Taliban in 2001.<\/p>\n