16 Taliban, Three Police Reported Killed In Afghanistan

Coalition forces operating at Kabul's airport on September 2 (epa) September 4, 2006 -- Suspected Taliban rebels attacked a town in Afghanistan's southern Helmand Province overnight, sparking an intense battle in which 16 militants and three police officers were killed.

Provincial police chief Mohammad Nabi Mullahkhail said 10 Taliban were also wounded in the fighting in Garmser district.


In Kabul, NATO says a car bomb exploded near a NATO convoy, killing at least four Afghan civilians and wounding four NATO troops. It was not immediately clear if the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber.


In Kandahar Province, NATO warplanes killed one soldier of the alliance and wounded several others in a friendly-fire accident early today.


NATO says the troops were involved in the Medusa Operation under way in Panjwayi district.


Four Canadian soldiers involved in the operation were killed on September 3 . NATO estimates that more than 200 Taliban have been killed since the operation began on September 2.


(AFP, AP, Reuters)

Afghanistan And Pakistan

Afghanistan And Pakistan

Afghan President Hamid Karzai (left) with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad in October 2005 (epa)

ACROSS A DIFFICULT BORDER. The contested border between Pakistan and Afghanistan is some 2,500 kilometers long and runs through some of the most rugged, inhospitable territory on Earth. Controlling that border and preventing Taliban militants from using Pakistan as a staging ground for attacks in Afghanistan is an essential part of the U.S.-led international coalition's strategy for stabilizing Afghanistan. Officials in Kabul have been pointing their fingers at Pakistan for some time, accusing Islamabad or intelligence services of turning a blind eye to cross-border terrorism targeting the Afghan central government. Many observers remain convinced that much of the former Taliban regime's leadership -- along with leaders of Al-Qaeda -- are operating in the lawless Afghan-Pakistani border region.... (more)


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