Troops intend to oust Taliban from Afghan town
Updated Sat. Feb. 3 2007 7:54 AM ET
Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Hundreds of residents were fleeing a southern Afghan town overrun by Taliban militants, villagers said Saturday, amid reports that the insurgents had reinforced their positions despite an impending NATO-Afghan operation to recapture the area.
Gen. David Richards, the British commander of the NATO-led force, said care would be taken to protect lives and property and that his troops would not use force "in the way I think some people are concerned about."
From June until September, Musa Qala witnessed intense battles between Taliban fighters and British troops posted in the fortified center. The fighting caused widespread damage to the surrounding town of around 10,000 inhabitants, most of whom were forced to flee.
British forces left Musa Qala in October after elders struck a truce with the Helmand provincial governor that British forces support. Richards said the Taliban were not party to the agreement, which turned over security to local leaders, preventing NATO forces from entering the town.
Some Western officials criticized the peace deal as a NATO retreat in hostile Taliban territory.
Late Thursday, hundreds of Taliban militants overran Musa Qala, destroying the government center and briefly detaining the elders, officials and residents said.
A number of Taliban militants remained in the town, and there were reports they were reinforcing their positions, said Col. Tom Collins, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force.
"It is only a matter of time before (the) government re-establishes control, and that is going to happen," Collins said.
Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak said the situation in Musa Qala was not clear. He said local elders may have already pushed the Taliban out of the town.
"If there is a need for an operation, there will be one," Wardak said.
A purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, said the Taliban took over the town in response to NATO attacks that he said violated the agreement. He was apparently referring to a NATO airstrike outside of Musa Qala that killed a senior militant leader and a number of his deputies late last month.
But NATO said that the Taliban were never part of the agreement and "by their actions, the Taliban have ended over four months of peace in Musa Qala which, until now, had seen a return to normality with reconstruction and development getting under way."
"It is very clear that the Taliban are acting against the wishes of the people of Musa Qala," NATO said in a statement.
Mohammad Wali, a Musa Qala resident, said a number of Taliban fighters were around the damaged district center Saturday, where the white Taliban flag was hoisted. Hundreds of residents had fled the area, fearing that fighting between NATO and militants would resume, he said.
Lal Mohammad, another resident, said the Taliban were in control of the town and were being led by Haji Mullah Gafoor, who was the Taliban commander in western Afghanistan when the Islamic movement was in power.
Violence in Afghanistan has risen sharply in the last year. About 4,000 people died in insurgency-related violence in 2006, according to a count by The Associated Press based on numbers from Afghan, NATO and U.S. officials.
U.S. Gen. Dan McNeil was set to replace British Gen. David Richards on Sunday as the commander of more than 40,000 NATO-led troops in Afghanistan. Military officials have said privately that the change of command will mark a new approach in dealing with resurgent Taliban militants.
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