Afghan-led forces killed 69 Taliban in a major operation against rebel strongholds in southern Afghanistan, while seven police also died, the Defence Ministry said Friday.
Thursday’s push through part of the southern province of Helmand was the first ”where foreign forces have not participated”, Defence Ministry spokesperson Mohammad Zahir Azimi said.
Nato’s International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said it provided ”flank protection, close air support and medical support”.
Azimi said the operation cleared three villages near the town of Gereshk. The fighting was over on Thursday and troops were on Friday involved in a ”clean-up”, which included assessing damage and looking for weapons.
”Sixty-nine enemy elements were killed, 49 bodies of the enemy were left at the battleground. Seventeen enemy elements were arrested, including three wounded,” Azimi told reporters in Kabul.
”Seven police were martyred” and 19 men from the police force, army and the intelligence service were wounded, he added.
Azimi said the operation showed the increasing capacity of the Afghan security forces, which were in tatters by the time the extremist Taliban was driven from power in late 2001 in a United States-led offensive.
”We began last year with 16 000 Afghan troops. This year we have 46 000 Afghan soldiers,” he said.
”We are better equipped, better trained and are in a much better coordination and understanding with international community and foreign troops about the common enemy,” he said.
The country, with a population of 26-million, is trying to build an army of 70 000 but officials say it needs at least 200 000 soldiers.
The police force, now at about 60 000, is generally agreed to be in a worse state than the army but is also being trained and equipped by international donors who want Afghans to be responsible for their own security.
The US this year announced it planned to spend $8,6-billion on building and equipping the security forces over two years.
Germany, Italy and Jordan were also providing important training, Azimi said.
Isaf said Thursday’s offensive was part of Operation Achilles launched March 6 and involving 5 500 Afghan and foreign forces in the northern part of Helmand targeting Taliban, hundreds of foreign jihadists in the area and opium traders.
Helmand has seen some of the fiercest attacks on militants this year, including Isaf bombings on Taliban compounds and insurgents suspected of being involved in the transport of anti-aircraft weapons.
The province’s small town of Musa Qala has been in Taliban control since early February and the Western military acknowledges that other remote areas are also in insurgent hands. — AFP
