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NATO, Afghan forces fight Taliban in south
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-06-19 15:33 The commando-style attack on the Kandahar city jail, is seen as part of the Taliban's new guerrilla warfare tactics. The militants have carried out such attacks in several areas of Afghanistan, including at a luxury hotel near the presidential palace in Kabul this year.
Additional Afghan troops were sent by air from Kabul to Kandahar to help national and NATO-led forces in the operation. Some 800 Afghan government troops, backed by hundreds of mainly Canadian NATO soldiers, are fighting the Taliban insurgents who seized seven villages in the Arghandab district on Monday. About 5,000 families have fled their homes in Arghandab's lush valley after NATO on Monday warned about the launch of the offensive, a provincial official has said. A Taliban spokesman said before the assault started that the the group had set its sights on Kandahar, the birthplace of the austere Islamic movement which seized the power in 1996 and was driven from power by US-led forces in 2001. The al Qaeda-backed group has made a comeback since 2006 and is largely active in southern and eastern areas along the border region with Pakistan where the militants have some bases and support. US-led troops overthrew the Taliban government after its leaders refused to hand over al Qaeda chief, Osama bin Laden, the architect of the September 11 attacks on the United States. Despite the presence of more than 60,000 foreign troops and some 150,000 Afghan troops, security has deteriorated since the Taliban's fall and the leaders of the militants are still at large. |
