Taliban Loses Grip on Last Major Town
TAIMOOR SHAH and ABDUL WAHEED WAFA
From the NYT, of all places!
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Dec. 10 — Afghan and NATO troops retook the town of Musa Qala in southern Afghanistan on Monday, forcing the Taliban to withdraw from the only sizable town they hold in the country, Afghan and NATO officials said. There was no clear picture of casualties, but the Taliban and civilians said there had been heavy bombardment overnight.
The news came as Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain made a surprise visit to Afghanistan and met with President Hamid Karzai. About 7,000 British troops are deployed in Helmand Province, in southern Afghanistan. Retaking Musa Qala, which they abandoned more than a year ago, has been one of their main objectives in the province, which has the highest level of Taliban activity as well as illicit opium production.
Wali Muhammad, police chief of the neighboring district, Sangin, said Afghan and NATO forces entered the town at 2 p.m. after heavy fighting. “The Taliban are gone,” he said. “They faced humiliation and heavy casualties.”
A large Taliban force attacked Sangin just before dawn Monday, apparently as a diversionary tactic, but the Afghans fought them off and suffered no casualties, he said.
The Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman, Gen. Zaher Azimi, confirmed that Musa Qala was in government hands again but said fighting was still continuing on the outskirts of the town.
Maj. Charles Anthony, a spokesman for the NATO-led force in Afghanistan, said, “Afghan and NATO forces have reached the center, but at this point they are consolidating their position.”
A NATO statement said “progress will be deliberate, appropriate and measured” because of concern about the possibility of mines and roadside bombs.
The Taliban conceded that their fighters had pulled out at 2 p.m., saying it was a tactical withdrawal to avoid their own and civilian casualties. A spokesman for the Taliban, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, who said he was with the Musa Qala force, said the Taliban had pulled out but were not far away.
“We will carry out a hit-and-run war,” he said. “Losing Musa Qala doesn’t mean that we will stop fighting.”
He said the Taliban had lost eight fighters over the three days of fighting. He added that heavy fighting in Landy Nawa, near Musa Qala, on Sunday night had killed civilians. It was not possible to verify his assertions.
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