Mr Mangal is a Pashtun from Paktika province

The southern province, where thousands of British troops clash daily with Taleban insurgents, grows half the country's opium poppies, and it has had two governors in the last two years.

There are few places as complicated.

Traditional tribal structures have broken down and Taleban militants, drug lords and criminals mix into an already complex set of tribal tensions and historical rivalries.

So what makes Governor Mangal think he can succeed where others have failed?

"It's a big challenge, but there will be a lot of changes in the next year," he says.

Push for reconciliation

For a start he is not from Helmand, but a Pashtun from Paktika province in the south-east.

I'm going to work hard to get the insurgents to change sides and work with the government rather than against it Gulab Mangal

He argues it means he is more likely to strike a balance as he does not come into the job with the baggage of being from one tribe at the expense of another.

"The first thing I will do is to hold a series of shuras, or meetings, with tribal councils across the province to try and gain widespread support for the Afghan government," he says.

And he sees reconciliation with local Taleban commanders and foot soldiers as an important part of the job - trying to persuade them to switch over and back the government.

"I'm going to work hard to get the insurgents to change sides and work with the government rather than against it.

"The British are already doing this and we will work together," he adds.

He brings experience, credibility to the job - credibility in both security and development issues Chris Alexander United Nations Assistance Mission

Despite the controversy which saw a British and an Irish diplomat being expelled last December, talking to the Taleban is official government policy.

The new district head of Musa Qala in Helmand is a former Taleban commander.

He was brought in to govern after the Taleban were forced from a town they had held for months by a joint operation involving Afghan and international security forces.

Things in Musa Qala are going well so far, with 500 children now going to the refurbished school and a number of development projects being put into place to persuade people the government is better for them than the Taleban.

Jalali Popal is head of the Independent Directorate of Local Governance which has been tasked with strengthening an area crucial to Afghanistan's success.

Afghanistan's government has reopened many schools

He sees reconciliation as an important element of improving security.

"Anyone who wants to lay down their guns and accept the Afghan constitution, values and current version of the administration can enjoy all the privileges of any Afghan. It's always been the policy," he says.

"We choose our governors on five criteria - loyalty to the constitution and the current administration; efficiency and effectiveness; leadership and management skills; interacting with the international community effectively; and fighting corruption.

"Gulab Mangal has been very successful as governor of Laghman and Paktika - which was in a similar position to Helmand at the time - he brought a union between the government and the people effectively.

"We think it is more useful that someone not from Helmand should be appointed there."

Tribal dynamics

And Governor Mangal comes well recommended by members of the international community and the British who will be working with him.

"He is one of the most accomplished governors to have served Afghanistan since 2001," said Chris Alexander from the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.

"He brings experience, credibility to the job - credibility in both security and development issues."

But a former Governor, Sher Mohammad Akhundzada, is close to President Hamid Karzai and has been perceived as a strong voice of opposition to the previous governors, Daud and Wafa.

Governor Mangal will have to tread carefully in the complex tribal dynamics of Helmand, where there will be many pitfalls and, of course, the constant threat of attack by suicide bombers.

Four Afghan civilians have been killed in an airstrike by British forces, the Ministry of Defence said.

The attack happened when troops called for help during a Taleban ambush in Helmand province, south Afghanistan.

"We deeply regret that this incident happened and do everything we can to mitigate this from happening," the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.

The four bodies - two women and two children - and one injured person were found when troops inspected the area.

The MoD said in a statement: "We can confirm UK forces were involved in an operation in the south of Helmand Province.

"This incident is currently under investigation and it would be inappropriate for us to comment."

Air support

The British troops had been caught up in an intense firefight after being ambushed, the MoD spokeswoman said.

The civilians were unintentionally killed after air support was called in and directed on to the area where the Taleban appeared to have been operating.

An injured person was evacuated to the British field hospital at Camp Bastion for medical treatment.

Nato spokesman Brigadier General Carlos Branco revealed details of the incident at a news conference in Afghanistan.

He spoke only of the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force's role, and later the MoD confirmed UK troops had been present.

It is not known if the aircraft was British.

Brig Gen Branco said: "During the ensuing fight, two women and two children, part of a group of civilians who were in the vicinity of the action, were killed.

"We deeply regret the loss of innocent life and injuries and we are saddened that casualties were caused as a result of a deliberate attack against Isaf forces instigated by insurgents."

Prince Harry worked with the air support, the British Forward Air Controllers, until he returned from Afghanistan less than two weeks ago.

 

Shops and factories in the Afghan province of Herat have joined a strike by doctors to demand better security.

The indefinite strike, now in its fourth day, was started by medical staff in protest against a recent rise in attacks on staff and their families.

The central hospital in Herat is at a standstill and pharmacies and private clinics are also closed.

The Afghan government is sending a delegation to Herat in an effort to deal with the crisis.

On Monday, the government threatened the striking doctors with legal action if they didn't return to work.

Several hundred doctors and medical workers started an indefinite strike on Saturday in protest at a recent rise in the number of attacks on medical staff.

The strike was caused by the kidnapping of the son of a local doctor in Herat last week.

He was the latest in a number of doctors or doctors' relatives to have been abducted over the past year.

Kidnappers are reported to have demanded $300,000 (£149,000) for his release.

Visitors to Herat's normally busy main hospital say it is unusually quiet at the moment, without the usual crowds of people waiting for treatment.

The health workers' strike has hit medical services in the area hard, paralysing the hospital itself and leading to the closure of local pharmacies and private clinics.

It has reached far beyond Herat city itself - the city is an important regional centre and people travel there from surrounding districts and neighbouring provinces.

The doctors are demanding that security forces secure the release of the doctor's son, who was abducted in Herat city last week, and that overall security be improved.

It is not clear who is behind the wave of kidnappings aimed at doctors and their families.

Afghan mobile phone companies have begun switching off their signals at night in parts of the restive south after several attacks by the Taleban.

Ten mobile phone masts were attacked in recent weeks, the latest on Tuesday night, the Afghan government says.

Last month the Taleban threatened the companies, alleging that the networks were being used by Afghan and Nato troops to target them.

Mobile phones are the only form of communication for many Afghans.

They were introduced to the country in 2001, after the fall of the Taleban.

The latest attack took place on Tuesday night, when a mobile phone tower was set on fire in the western province of Herat.

Since a threat by the Taleban last month to target the towers unless the phone companies switched off their signals at night, 10 such facilities have been attacked, six of them completely destroyed.

Government 'concern'

Afghanistan has four mobile phone companies, all privately owned, and they now appear to have begun complying.

In two southern provinces, Zabul and Ghazni, the phone networks have stopped working between five in the evening and seven in the morning.

The deputy police chief in Ghazni, Mohammad Zaman, said this was the result of the Taleban's warning.

"We will persuade the companies to turn the signals back on again," he said.

Similar reports have come in from several districts in four other southern provinces, including Kandahar and Helmand, which are both Taleban strongholds.

The phone companies have refused to speak on the issue but a spokesman for the telecommunications ministry, Abdul Hadi Hadi, told the BBC that the government had asked them to resist the Taleban pressure.

"We are concerned because the mobile phone companies had promised us that they would not bow before the Taleban demand," Mr Hadi said.

Mobile phones are the only way most Afghans are able to communicate, especially in remote areas where they are used to summon medical help or contact relatives.

Many Afghans living in the affected areas are now complaining that they are being inconvenienced and are also feeling insecure.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A suicide car bomber attacked a convoy of Canadian troops in southern Afghanistan Wednesday, killing a passing civilian and wounding one soldier.

A passing truck driver was killed in the attack, and two civilian passers-by were wounded, said police officer Nematullah Khan.

Capt. Mark Gough, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force in the south, said one ISAF soldier was lightly wounded in the attack.

Most NATO troops based in Kandahar are Canadian.

Khan had said earlier that two Canadian troops were wounded. The discrepancy in the numbers could not immediately be reconciled because of lack of access to the scene.

Afghanistan is in the midst of a bloody insurgency led by its former Taliban rulers.

Last year, more than 8,000 people were killed, including 1,500 civilians, according to a recent U.N. report.

In other violence, Taliban militants attacked a district administrative compound Tuesday in southern Zabul province, and the ensuing one-hour gunbattle left one Taliban dead and three wounded, said Mizan district chief Mohammad Younus Akhunzada.

On Monda, two women and two children were caught in the line of fire and killed during a clash between NATO troops and insurgents in southern Afghanistan, the alliance said in a statement Wednesday. NATO was investigating the causes of their deaths, but did not provide any other details including the exact location.