Taliban Fighters Take Over Several Afghan Villages Outside Kandahar

KABUL, Afghanistan — U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces killed more than 15 insurgents during a hunt for inmates who fled prison after a sophisticated Taliban attack that set hundreds free, while Afghan forces recaptured 20 prisoners, officials said Sunday.

The U.S. said it couldn't immediately confirm that any of the 15 killed were escaped prisoners. Five militants were also captured during the Saturday operation, it said.

The provincial police chief of Kandahar province has said 870 prisoners _ including some 400 Taliban militants _ escaped from the Kandahar prison during a coordinated assault on the facility by dozens of insurgents late Friday.

The chief, Sayed Agha Saqib, said Sunday that Afghan police and army soldiers have recaptured 20 prisoners, including seven former Taliban inmates.

The coalition said the 15 insurgents it killed were in a farming compound in Kandahar province and that the combined forces used air strikes to destroy it after insurgents fired at them.

NATO has said the prison break was a tactical success for the Taliban but would not have a long-term or large impact on the Afghan conflict. However, Afghan officials have warned that dangerous members of the militia are now free, and that the prison attack essentially boosted the insurgents' ranks by 400.

In neighboring Helmand province, meanwhile, the U.S. coalition said "several" militants were killed during an operation targeting a Taliban weapons smuggler in Garmser, where hundreds of U.S. Marines have been operating the last two months.

Militants in a compound fired on the coalition forces, who responded with gunfire and air strikes, the coalition statement said. Troops found several weapons and 250 pounds of narcotics during a search after the fight. Garmser is filled with opium poppy fields and is a major narcotics trafficking point.

Also in Helmand, a roadside bomb killed the district police chief of Nad Ali, said Mohammad Hussein Andiwal, the provincial police chief. The Nad Ali district chief was wounded in the attack, he said.

Andiwal said the road where the explosion happened is usually patrolled by NATO and Afghan forces.

Afghanistan has seen escalating violence the last two years from roadside bombs and suicide bombers. The country now has a record number of international troops _ some 65,000, including 33,000 U.S. forces. More than 1,800 people have been killed in violence this year, according to an Associated Press count.

Comments

[numerouno]

Hey didn't you all hear? "Mission Accomplished" It isn't about the Taliban Its about the Heroin.

[PAposter]

aaaaahhhhhh Sh*t!

[realpolitic]

Afghanistan is the new Iraq!

[TheEmptinessOfTruthiness]

Neocons don't care. Neocons don't even want to "win." (whatever that means.)

Neocons just want the wars to go on and on and on and on.

[Nooneyouknow]

An odd thing about the U.S. military's story is that these supposed Taliban insurgents were found with some kind of opiates in amounts suggesting that they're producers or smugglers. The Taliban had nearly eradicated opium production in Afghanistan by 2001; today, opium production is breaking records. The Taliban are officially against opiates as prohibited for use by Muslims. So are they producing and smuggling it for profit, or is Bushco lying to us again?

[TheEmptinessOfTruthiness]

Yes.

[MaxBob]

The next headline NOT reported on HuffPo:

'Hundreds of Taliban killed by coalition forces fleeing villages.'

[JoeBlough]

So, what's your point Bob?

[SmellyOne]

The point is obvious.

[andyboy]

Oh my God! It's the end of the world as we know it.

Hurry USA! Sen din the Army, Navy, Air Force & the Marines!

Like I give a fudge if the Taliban or some other repressive Islamic group rules Afghanistan.

If they wanted to be free they would set up a government like we did. If not then too bad.

Why is the USA responsible for Afghanistan's situation? It's NONE OF OUR BUSINESS.

[Fentwin]

The Taliban, while controlling Afghanistan, harboured OBL, you know the guy responsible for 9/11.

So sure, let them (the Taliban) regain control, why should we care?

[Nooneyouknow]

Yeah, but when OBL was in a Pakistani hospital in July 2001, he was visited by CIA agents. So I'm guessing Bushco's problem with the Taliban wasn't OBL; it was that UNOCAL oil pipeline that the Taliban wouldn't let go through.

[thebanana]

Wait a minute, we were told last week that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was the mastermind behind 9/11. Which lie am I supposed to believe?

If OBL is still in Pakistan, why don't the Americans attack that country? Oh yeah, they have nukes but no oil.

[mikep]

9/11 is ancient history, friend. Get over it.

[helonias]

So when will we talk with the Russians about their success there?

[totalliberal]

Hey George. Over here. The war is over here. Always has been you moron.
If any cities will be lost in America Newt, the effort will have been organized here.
McCain is a fundamentalist just like Bush. FUNDAMENTALY STUPID.

Hamid Karzai:

[fact finder]

Russia could not conquer Afghanistan , what makes Bush or any one else think that the U.S can. At the time Russia had the Hind helicopter, which is still one of the best gun platforms in the World, Unlimited manpower and control of all the major towns.

That numbskull in the WH is going to get many more Americans killed for nothing.

[JoeBlough]

Bush/McCain will screw the pooch again. You'd think after 7 years, they would know there arse from a hole in the ground.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

Are these the SAME Talibanisters that were sprung from jail within the week?

[thizzkid]

Are these the same Taliban that GWB invited to TX before 911

[AnnArky]

McCain: Losing is Winning!