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Taliban Fortifying Afghan Positions
KANDAHAR — Taliban fighters controlling the Afghan town of Musa Qala in the southern province of Helmand appeared to be fortifying their positions Saturday, February3 , NATO officials said.
"We have indications that Taliban are fortifying their positions in the district centre," spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Colonel Thomas Collins told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
A "substantial" Taliban force stormed a district also called Musa Qala late Thursday, February1 , disarming police and occupying the administration headquarters in the small town.
"We know there are fighters in the area but to the extent, I can't give you real details.... I can't give you a clear idea of what the nature of their control is in the town in this time," added Thomas.
"But they control a small area but to say they control the entire district is going too far."
The Afghan Defense Ministry confirmed that the police and administration structures in the district had been disbanded.
"It is under Taliban control since yesterday," ministry spokesman General Zahir Azimi told AFP.
An ISAF statement late Friday said there were reports that "an unknown number of Taliban have entered the Musa Qala district centre in Helmand province, that pressure has been placed on the elders and the Afghan national flag has been taken down."
Exodus
Provincial governor Asadullah Wafa said Friday civilians were fleeing the town fearing imminent ISAF and Afghan army strikes to drive out the Taliban.
Collins said ISAF was ready to support government forces preparing to retake the centre.
"We are confident it will come under full government of Afghanistan control," he said.
The Taliban movement, which was in government between 1996 and 2001 before being ousted by a US-led invasion, last year briefly took control of a handful of centers in remote parts of southern Afghanistan before being ejected by military forces.
The British military, which has the bulk if its deployment of6 , 000troops to Afghanistan in Helmand, in September withdrew its forces five kilometers (three miles) from Musa Qala town at the request of the government after tribal leaders said they would see the peace was kept.
But Defense Secretary Des Browne said on Thursday that he would send an additional 800 troops to southern Afghanistan as forces brace for a spring offensive by Taliban fighters.
The increase will bring Britain's force in the south, where it has spearheaded a NATO-led offensive against Taliban fighters, to some5 , 800by late summer.
The extra troops will be heading for the British hub in Helmand province, which has in recent months seen the worst of a Taliban-led attacks which claimed over4 , 000lives last year.
Most of the 46 British soldiers killed during the war have died there.
While recent months have been relatively calm compared with last year, military chiefs fear that Taliban fighters are preparing for a massive spring offensive as snows melt, allowing them to renew attacks on NATO targets.
Last month, the British commander of NATO troops in Afghanistan, General David Richards, warned in an interview that more soldiers were needed for what he said should be a year-long push to defeat Taliban.
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1170240688592&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout
A "substantial" Taliban force stormed a district also called Musa Qala late Thursday, February1 , disarming police and occupying the administration headquarters in the small town.
"We know there are fighters in the area but to the extent, I can't give you real details.... I can't give you a clear idea of what the nature of their control is in the town in this time," added Thomas.
"But they control a small area but to say they control the entire district is going too far."
The Afghan Defense Ministry confirmed that the police and administration structures in the district had been disbanded.
"It is under Taliban control since yesterday," ministry spokesman General Zahir Azimi told AFP.
An ISAF statement late Friday said there were reports that "an unknown number of Taliban have entered the Musa Qala district centre in Helmand province, that pressure has been placed on the elders and the Afghan national flag has been taken down."
Exodus
Provincial governor Asadullah Wafa said Friday civilians were fleeing the town fearing imminent ISAF and Afghan army strikes to drive out the Taliban.
Collins said ISAF was ready to support government forces preparing to retake the centre.
"We are confident it will come under full government of Afghanistan control," he said.
The Taliban movement, which was in government between 1996 and 2001 before being ousted by a US-led invasion, last year briefly took control of a handful of centers in remote parts of southern Afghanistan before being ejected by military forces.
The British military, which has the bulk if its deployment of6 , 000troops to Afghanistan in Helmand, in September withdrew its forces five kilometers (three miles) from Musa Qala town at the request of the government after tribal leaders said they would see the peace was kept.
But Defense Secretary Des Browne said on Thursday that he would send an additional 800 troops to southern Afghanistan as forces brace for a spring offensive by Taliban fighters.
The increase will bring Britain's force in the south, where it has spearheaded a NATO-led offensive against Taliban fighters, to some5 , 800by late summer.
The extra troops will be heading for the British hub in Helmand province, which has in recent months seen the worst of a Taliban-led attacks which claimed over4 , 000lives last year.
Most of the 46 British soldiers killed during the war have died there.
While recent months have been relatively calm compared with last year, military chiefs fear that Taliban fighters are preparing for a massive spring offensive as snows melt, allowing them to renew attacks on NATO targets.
Last month, the British commander of NATO troops in Afghanistan, General David Richards, warned in an interview that more soldiers were needed for what he said should be a year-long push to defeat Taliban.
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1170240688592&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout
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A central element of British policy in Afghanistan, the Musa Qala agreement, appeared to be in tatters last night after Taliban forces overran the town it is named after. They bulldozed and burnt its administrative centre, and abducted opponents.
An exodus was under way from the town in Helmand province with people abandoning their homes in fear of air strikes amid reports that Taliban fighters were digging trenches as British and Nato forces moved into the area. There were also accounts, unconfirmed, of fighting place in the nearby district of Sangin.
Musa Qala has become a strategic and symbolic focal point since British forces withdrew after they reached a deal in November under which elders agreed to keep out the Taliban.
Paratroopers from 16 Air Assault Brigade Regiment lost six comrades defending the centre which was destroyed yesterday by the Taliban.
The Musa Qala agreement, brokered by the British and signed by the Helmand governor at the time, Mohammed Daoud, a British protégé, has been held up by the UK military and officials as a template for other volatile areas. Critics said the pact was a sham and the elders powerless.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article2211561.ece