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WORLD> Asia-Pacific
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NATO, Afghan forces fight Taliban in south
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-06-19 15:33 KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- NATO and Afghan forces attacked Taliban militants dug in at the outskirts of southern Kandahar city for the second day running on Thursday, in one of the biggest battles in Afghanistan in recent years. "It was quiet overnight, but the fighting has restarted this morning," a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Kabul said. On Wednesday, NATO helicopter gunships and troops had blasted the valley of Arghandab in southern Afghanistan in a huge offensive against the Taliban insurgents, many of whom were believed to have escaped from jail in Kandahar city last week. The spokesman could not confirm the Afghan government's accounts that dozens of militants have been killed but said some foreign civilian contractors of the alliance were wounded during clashes with Taliban fighters. The operation, which NATO expects to last until the weekend, is aimed at some reported 600 Taliban fighters who have dug in at the Arghandab district just northwest of Kandahar, and comes days after the Taliban freed hundreds of their comrades from the main jail in Kandahar city. On Wednesday, NATO general Major-General Marc Lessard, commander of NATO forces in southern Afghanistan, said the infiltration of the hundreds of Taliban militants was a tactical success for them and a setback for NATO. "There are setbacks ... the prison breakout and the Arghandab operation, and there will be setbacks in the future," Lessard told Reuters in an interview. "They've definitely managed to achieve some kind of tactical success, there's no doubt there," he said. |
