(Updates to clarify separate NATO and U.S. troop levels) WASHINGTON, Aug 9 (Reuters) - The conflict in Afghanistan has not reached a crisis point despite gains by Taliban insurgents, U.S. national security adviser Jim Jones said on Sunday. "I don't think we're at a crisis level where there is any move by the Taliban to overthrow the government," Jones said on CBS' "Face the Nation." But he said Washington would not rule out an additional increase in U.S. troop levels to secure the country. Violence has increased in Afghanistan in the last weeks of campaigning for an Aug. 20 presidential election that militants vowed to disrupt. The United States announced earlier this year that it was sending 21,000 extra troops to Afghanistan in a bid to counter the Taliban, who now control a large swath of territory, and it has named a new commander to lead the NATO-backed effort. NATO has about 65,000 troops in Afghanistan, with contributions from more than 40 countries, although around half of them are American. The United States has an additional 36,000 troops operating outside the NATO umbrella. The Taliban have regrouped since being driven from power by U.S.-led forces for harboring al Qaeda leaders responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Washington expected the election would proceed as scheduled. "The Afghan people are ready and waiting, and our aim is to ensure that there's a level playing field, that the Afghan people have an opportunity to freely choose their next leader in security," she told CNN's "State of the Union." The Taliban insurgency has prompted concerns of a wider rebellion that could engulf Afghanistan and further destabilize Pakistan, its neighbor and nuclear power. (Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell; Writing by Paul Simao; Editing by Doina Chiacu)
Two Afghan boys watch a U.S. soldier of Gator Company, 2-12 Infantry, 4th Brigade as he keeps watch during a dawn patrol in the Pesh Valley in Afghanistan's Kunar Province August ...
