I think this could be quite a story, if it's substantiated and could turn the Whole GWOT on its head. I'll try and get some more information on this, but for now, here's the story from the Asian Times Online.

MAZAR-E-SHARIF - Persistent accounts of Western forces in Afghanistan using their helicopters to ferry Taliban fighters, strongly denied by the military, is feeding mistrust of the forces that are supposed to be bringing order to the country. One such tale came from a soldier from the 209th Shahin Corps of the Afghan National Army, fighting against the growing insurgency in Kunduz province in northern Afghanistan. Over several months, he had taken part in several pitched battles against the armed opposition. "Just when the police and army managed to surround the Taliban in a village of Qala-e-Zaal district, we saw helicopters land with support teams," he said. "They managed to rescue their friends from our encirclement, and even to inflict defeat on the Afghan National Army." This story, in one form or another, is being repeated throughout northern Afghanistan. 

Dozens of people claim to have seenTaliban fighters disembark from foreign helicopters in several provinces. The local talk is of the insurgency being consciously moved north, with international troops ferrying fighters in from the volatile south, to create mayhem in a new location. Helicopters are almost exclusively the domains of foreign forces inAfghanistan; the international military controls the air space and has a virtual monopoly on aircraft. So when Afghans see choppers, they think foreign military. "Our fight against the Taliban is nonsense," said the soldier from Shahin Corps. "Our foreigner 'friends' are friendlier to the opposition." For months or even years, rumors have been circulating inAfghanistan that the Taliban are being financed or even directly supported militarily by the foreign forces. In part it stems from an inability to believe that major foreignarmies cannot defeat a ragtag bunch of insurgents; in addition,Afghanistan has been a center of foreign intrigue for so long that belief in plots comes naturally to many war-weary Afghans. 

The international troops hotly deny that they are supporting the insurgents. "This entire business with the helicopters is just a rumor," said Brigadier General Juergen Setzer, recently appointed commander for the International Security Assistance Force, ISAF, in the north. "It has no basis in reality, according to our investigations." The general added that ISAF-North had overall control of the air space in the northern region. But the persistent rumors that foreign helicopters have been sighted assisting the Taliban in northern Afghanistan were given an unexpected boost in mid-October by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who told the media that his administration was investigating similar reports that "unknown" helicopters were ferrying the insurgents from Helmand province in the south to Baghlan, Kunduz and Samangan provinces in the north. Captain Tim Dark, of Britain’s Task Force Helmand, was vehement in his reaction. "The thought that British soldiers could be aiding and abetting the enemy is just rubbish," he said. "We have had 85 casualties so far this year." Engineer Mohammad Omar, governor of Kunduz, refused to comment on the issue, but Enayatullah Enayat, governor of Samangan, also denied that the helicopters were moving the opposition around in Samangan. "I am in contact with both national and foreign forces in Samangan," he said. "I have not seen any suspicious helicoptersbringing in the Taliban." The north has recently witnessed a spike in insurgent activity, particularly in Kunduz and Baghlan. Provinces that were relatively calm even six months ago are experiencing armed attacks, suicide bombings and even outright Taliban control over several districts. In a district of Baghlan province, Baghlan-e-Markazi, residents witnessed a battle last month in which they insisted that twoforeign helicopters had delivered the Taliban fighters who then attacked their district center. "I saw the helicopters with my own eyes," said Sayed Rafiq from Baghlan-e-Markazi. "They landed near the foothills and offloaded dozens of Taliban with turbans, and wrapped in patus [a blanket-type shawl]." According to numerous media reports, the Taliban attacked the district center, and the district police chief along with the head of counter-narcotics and a number of soldiers were killed. 

Commander Amir Gul, district governor of Baghlan-e-Markazi, insisted that the Taliban fighters had been delivered by helicopter. "I do not know to which country the helicopters belonged," he told the Institute for War and Peace Reporting. "But these are the same helicopters that are taking the Taliban from Helmand to Kandahar and from there to the north, especially to Baghlan." According to Amir Gul, the district department of the National Security Directorate had identified the choppers, but it refused to comment. Baghlan police chief, Mohammad Kabir Andarabi, said that his department had reported to the central government that foreignhelicopters were transporting the Taliban into Baghlan. The Baghlan provincial governor, Mohammad Akbar Barikzai, told a news conference on October 21 that his intelligence and security services had discovered that unidentified helicopters were landing at night in some parts of the province. "We are investigating," he said. Rumors have reached the point where US ambassador, Karl Eikenberry, felt compelled to address them last week at a ceremony honoring the more than 5,500 Afghan police and soldiers who have died during the present war. The reports were "outrageous and baseless", said Eikenberry, as reported by McClatchey newspapers. "We would never aid the terrorists that attacked us on September 11, that are killing our soldiers, your soldiers and innocent Afghan civilians every day." Afghan political analysts have woven elaborate theories as to why the foreign forces would be helping the Taliban. 

According to Rahim Rahimi, a professor at Balkh University, America and the United Kingdom are trying to keep all ofAfghanistan insecure, so that people feel the need for the foreignforces. "They will try and destabilize the north any way they can," Rahimi said. "It is a good excuse to expand their presence in the area, to get a grip on the gas and oil in Central Asia." Fighting Islamic extremists was one way to insert themselves into the area without provoking a fierce reaction from Russia and the Central Asian governments, he added. Numerous websites have devoted blogs, columns and "investigative reports" to the helicopter rumors; literally everyone has heard the whispers, and many, if not most, believe them. It provides an added reason to suspect and fear the foreign forces, as well as an explanation for the rapid spread of the insurgency throughout the country. In the end, it may not really matter whether the rumors are ever substantiated. The firm belief that Afghans have in them can determine attitudes and behavior, further fueling mistrust of the Westerners in their midst. 

UK army 'providing' Taliban with air transport The British army has been relocating Taliban insurgents from southern Afghanistan to the north by providing transportation means, diplomats say. The diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said insurgents are being airlifted from the southern province of Helmand to the north amid increasing violence in the northern parts of the country. The aircraft used for the transfer have been identified as British Chinook helicopters. The officials said Sultan Munadi, an Afghan interpreter who was kidnapped along with his employer, New York Times reporter Stephen Farrell, was killed by a “British sniper” as commandos executed a rescue operation to free Farrell. They said Munadi was targeted for possessing documents and pictures pointing at the British military's involvement in the transfer operation. The Afghan journalist also had evidence of the involvement of the foreign forces in Afghanistan in the tensions that rocked China's Xinjiang autonomous region in July, the diplomats said. American forces have also invigorated the insurgency in the war-ravaged country by outfitting the Taliban with Russian-made weaponry used during the 1979-89 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, which was fought against by the Afghan Mujahedeen, the diplomats said. The US forces are assumed to have gathered the armaments during a campaign to "collect weapons from irresponsible people," after the 2001 invasion. Diplomats said Afghan Interior Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar, a Pashtun who has received his higher education in the UK, was still operating under the British guidance. The Interior Ministry is accused of enabling the provision of arms and ammunition for the north-based militants by the Pashtun police force. Earlier in the week, Afghan President Hamid Karzai was quoted by the BBC Persian as having ordered an investigation into reports of 'unknown' army helicopters carrying gunmen to the north. The Afghan president said based on unconfirmed reports, the helicopters have been taking gunmen to Baghlan, Kunduz and Samangan provinces overnight for about five months now. In early 2008, Karzai expelled two British diplomats for allegedly planning to “turn” senior Taliban commanders. According to the Times Online, the British officials had sought to persuade militant chief Mullah Mansoor Dadullah to cooperate with the UK. Afghanistan is currently witnessing the highest level of violence since the invasion, despite the presence of more than 100,000 foreign troops.