US Operations Have Already Started in Kandahar: Commander, AFP, 17 March 2010
EXCERPT: "US operations to push back Taliban forces around Kandahar have 'already begun' and will steadily build in coming months, the commander of US and NATO troops in Afghanistan said on Wednesday. General Stanley McChrystal told reporters that the US-led offensive on the Taliban's spiritual heartland had started with initial military and political efforts, including operations designed to secure key roads and districts surrounding the southern city.' And instead of putting a date certain on which there would be a climactic military operation, I tell you, that process has already begun,' McChrystal said by teleconference from Afghanistan. The general said the operation 'will ramp up in the weeks and months ahead' and would last for 'a significant time period.' Safeguarding the roads in and out of Kandahar was a crucial part of the plan, and the US military had deployed more unmanned surveillance aircraft and other resources to combat roadside bombs planted by the insurgents, he said. 'If you control the environs around Kandahar, you go a long way to controlling Kandahar.'"
Read the full story.
Related articles:
Taliban onslaught drove Afghan councillors from Kandahar province last spring: Documents, The Canadian Press, 17 March 2010
Key Taliban commander, several others detained in S Afghanistan: NATO, China View, 16 March 2010
Related posts:
Taliban hits Kandahar with five explosions, 35 killed, 15 March 2010
The Taliban's campaign for Kandahar, 11 December 2009
Kandahar
critical test for Afghanistan's future, 3 September 2009
Taliban
fill NATO's big gaps in Afghan south, 22 January 2009
