NATO, Afghan Forces Looks To Make Progress With Kandahar Offensive

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NATO, Afghan Forces Looks To Make Progress With Kandahar Offensive

September 27, 2010

By RFE/RL

Afghan and international troops have begun a key operation in districts surrounding the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, in an effort to turn around their nine-year war against the Taliban.

Some 8,000 Afghan and NATO troops are hunting insurgents in narrow alleys, fields, and orchards of Arghandab, Zhari, and Panjwai districts surrounding Kandahar city in Operation Dragon Strike.

Officials said today that they expect heavy fighting in the coming days as the Taliban are likely to fight hard to defend their stronghold.

Speaking to RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan on September 26, Abdul Karim Ulusmal, the district chief of Zhari, described the operation as extensive and covering most rural areas of his district.

"The operation has been going on for two days," Ulusmal said. "In Zhari district, they began from the village of Sanzarai and are moving forward. In my view, they want to capture parts of the district where the enemy is active."

The operation is considered the biggest since General David Petraeus assumed command of all U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan in early July.

'Getting Rid Of Taliban Stronghold'

Restoring security to Kandahar, the capital of the Taliban regime before it was ousted from power in 2001, would boost U.S. President Barak Obama's effort to considerably weaken the insurgency before the beginning of expected troop withdrawals next summer.

In Kabul on September 26, German General Josef Blotz, a NATO spokesman, told journalists that the alliance had launched its "kinetic," or combat, phase of Operation Dragon Strike.

The joint military push with Afghan forces around Kandahar is intended to rid the area of insurgents and interrupt their ability to move freely and stage attacks.

"This is the most significant military operation that is intended to clear specific Taliban strongholds in the adjacent districts to Kandahar city, which are Panjwai, Zhari, [and] Arghandab," Blotz said. "It is a significant ground operation with air support obviously. And it is aiming at getting rid of Taliban strongholds in these areas."

Blotz said that the Afghan and coalition forces are destroying Taliban positions to deprive them of hiding places. "Once this is done, insurgents will be forced to leave the area or fight and be killed," Blotz said.

NATO said militants have fought back with rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire, but no Afghan or coalition troops have been reported killed in the operation.

Air Strikes And Abductions

A separate engagement in the southeastern Khost Province over the weekend was more violent. In a statement on September 26, NATO confirmed that an air strike following a cross-border attack on an Afghan National Security Force outpost near the Pakistani border in Khost Province killed more than 30 insurgents on September 24. A follow-up attack the next day reportedly resulted in several more insurgents killed. It said there were no NATO casualties.

NATO said that insurgents were attacked under the rules of engagement in the cross-border skirmish. It did not give further details. It is unusual for NATO helicopters to attack targets on the Pakistan side of the border, where some of the casualties are believed to have occurred.

Meanwhile, British and Afghan officials are working to secure the release of a British aid worker and three of her Afghan colleagues. They were abducted on September 26 as they traveled in two vehicles in the eastern Kunar Province. Kunar police chief Khalilullah Zaiyi claimed that his forces fought a gun battle with the kidnappers near the attack site before the assailants fled.

Britain's Foreign Office in London said it could "confirm that a British national has been abducted in Afghanistan," without providing further details.

Tim Waite, a spokesman for the British Embassy in Kabul, said officials were working closely with all relevant local authorities and said the worker's family had been contacted.

The abducted aid workers are thought to be employees of Development Alternatives Inc., a global consulting company based in Washington, which works on projects for the U.S. Agency for International Development in Afghanistan.

based on RFE/RL and agency reports

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/NATO_Air_Strikes_Kill_At_Last_30_Militants_In_Pakistan/2169247.html

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NATO, Afghan Forces Looks To Make Progress With Kandahar Offensive