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Troops inflict 'vast damage' in south Afghanistan: Holbrooke
Paris (AFP) Aug 31, 2009 US and NATO troops have inflicted "vast damage" on the Taliban in southern Afghanistan, seizing strongholds and making a dent in the Islamic militia's drug trade, US envoy Richard Holbrooke said Monday. Holbrooke, who traveled twice to the southern Helmand province in recent weeks, told France 24 in an interview that a major US offensive launched last month was showing results. "The coalition forces including the British and Americans have done vast damage to the Taliban, disrupted them, captured major caches of opium, heroin and drug paraphernalia," he said. "They have really rocked the drug culture down there, have retaken many areas that were hardcore Taliban and the people have welcomed them with great enthusiasm." His comments came as the US and NATO commander in Afghanistan submitted a review calling for a revised strategy to defeat the Taliban and reverse the country's serious situation. General Stanley McChrystal's review, compiled since he took up command in mid-June, has been widely anticipated under US President Barack Obama's strategy putting Afghanistan at the heart of his foreign policy. There are about 90,000 foreign troops -- mainly US, British and Canadian -- deployed in Afghanistan on a mission to fight the Taliban insurgency, which has reached its deadliest level since the 2001 US-led invasion. On July 2, the US military launched one of its biggest offensives in Afghanistan, flying 4,000 US Marines in to battle against the Taliban in Helmand ahead of presidential elections on August 20. Holbrooke was in Paris ahead of a meeting on Wednesday with his counterparts from France, Germany, Britain and the United Nations to chart a way forward in Afghanistan following the elections. The US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan reiterated that the "door is open for dialogue with members of the Taliban who renounce Al-Qaeda and violence." But he sidestepped questions on the crediblity of the Afghanistan vote that is expected to return President Hamid Karzai to power, saying that "the process is still unrolling so let's see what happens on that." There have been allegations of fraud in the elections and Holbrooke stressed that vote-counting was continuing and the complaints were being examined. Share This Article With Planet Earth
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Pakistan blast sets NATO trucks ablaze: officialsQuetta, Pakistan (AFP) Aug 31, 2009 A bomb blast late Sunday in the western Pakistani city of Chaman near the Afghan border set ablaze several trucks loaded with supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan, police said. The bomb was planted under a tanker carrying fuel for NATO troops, which triggered the fire and quickly engulfed more than a dozen vehicles, Chaman police chief Sardar Hasan Musakhel told AFP. "Right now, it is ... read more |
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