US forces have abandoned a small base in eastern Afghanistan that was the scene of an intense assault by Taleban fighters in which 9 US soldiers died. The base was quickly occupied by Taleban fighters after the departure of the US forces, according to local government officials.

Nato spokesmen confirmed that US forces pulled out of the base in Wanat village of Nuristan yesterday afternoon.

"We are confirming we have vacated our combat outpost at Wanat," Nato spokesman Mark Laity told The Times. "All these kinds of outposts are temporary. We will continue to maintain a strong presence in the area. We will continue to perform regular patrols in the area."

The base was occupied by 45 US soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division and 25 Afghan soldiers. It was only two days old when it came under fierce bombardment on Sunday morning. Taleban fighters successfully breached the outer defences and were prevented from overrunning the base only after fierce hand-to-hand fighting.

Just over half of the US garrison was killed or injured in the battle, with 9 US dead and 15 injured; a further 4 Afghan troops were also injured.

Afghan officials reported that the area was occupied by Taleban fighters after the US withdrawal. Privately, Western military sources told The Times that the Wanat Combat Outpost was poorly sited and overlooked on three sides by buildings in the village, which Taleban fighters from a force estimated to be around 200 strong were able to use as firing points.

"When ISAF withdrew yesterday, we couldn't stand against the Taleban," said Omar Sami Taza, secretary for the Nuristan governor. "We pulled back and the district fell into the Taleban's hand. We will send more troops from the centre to recapture it."

Another official in Nuristan, Doctor Farooq Nuristani, provincial head of the Serious Crime Department of the police told The Times that American forces arrested the local district governor and police chief and disarmed the police on suspicion that they had provided support to the Taleban.

"There is great tension between the police and the Americans. We have sent a force of 60 more police to the area to provide security."

Such is the inaccessibility of Nuristan that information from the affected area is scarce.

Afghan newspapers meanwhile have reacted with fury to a succession of recent collateral damage incidents that are alleged to have strengthened support for the Taleban among local people in the area around the US base at Wanat.

Among several apparent errors involving US aircraft in recent weeks was an attack in the same valley as the Wanat base. Up to 17 civilians were reported killed in the incident on July 4, including three medical staff for International Medical Corps, an NGO.

"Such acts provoke public hatred towards internal and foreign forces and force people to join the enemy who encourages them to carry out terrorist and suicide attacks," said the state-run Hewad newspaper earlier this month.

"Such arbitrary bombing raids and brutal killings have been repeated so many times during the past nearly seven years that now it is difficult to believe these foreign forces have come to our country for assistance," the pro-government Weesa daily said.

US commanders have admitted that a 40 per cent increase in Taleban attacks along the eastern border, a spike in activity that coincided with the start of negotiations between the Pakistan government and militants in the tribal areas of Pakistan in April, has largely been met with an increase in air strikes.

There has been a 40 per cent increase in the number of aerial munitions used by US aircraft in the first six months of the year, compared to the same period last year, with 646 dropped in June alone.

This week the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, said that three more US Brigades (around 10,000 troops) were required for deployment to Afghanistan to bolster US forces against the resurgent Taleban.

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