Taliban's Gains Forestall U.S. Troop Reductions in Afghanistan
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The U.S. military plans no troop cuts in Afghanistan before March, as fighting intensifies against Taliban forces that have gained influence in a political and security "vacuum" in the southern part of the country, according to a senior U.S. commander.
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NATO defense chiefs agreed on Friday  they must plug shortfalls in peacekeeping troops in  Afghanistan, an alliance spokesman said, after top NATO  officials conceded they had underestimated Taliban resistance.
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The resurgent Taliban militia poses a tactical problem for the U.S.-led coalition but it cannot take over Afghanistan again, a top U.S. general said.
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The United States is worried about weakening Italian and German military commitments in Afghanistan as casualties increase in the fight to stem the bloody Taliban insurgency, officials said.
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Military force alone is unlikely to defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan, a top U.S. commander said Thursday, noting that most insurgencies end with a political solution.
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The killing in Afghanistan spirals onward, undermining U.S. claims of success in pacifying the country with less than a week to go before an historic experiment with democracy &#151; direct presidential elections.
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ZHARI -- NATO forces said yesterday they had recaptured territory in southern Afghanistan from Taliban insurgents during an 11-day operation that has killed at least 510 suspected militants. Security forces also killed a dozen Taliban yesterday and detained nearly 40 in raids aimed at quelling an insurgency so relentless that it has prompted NATO commanders to call for more troops, ...
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The deployment of British troops to the restive southern province of Helmand in Afghanistan has &amp;quot;energised&amp;quot; the Taliban, Britain&#039;s Defence Secretary Des Browne admitted in an interview.
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NATO forces in Afghanistan are in a "strategic stalemate," as Taliban insurgents expand their control of sparsely populated areas and as the central government fails to carry out vital reforms and reconstruction, according to an independent assessment released yesterday by NATO's former commander.
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NATO forces inflicted a "tactical defeat" on the resurgent Taliban movement in southern Afghanistan in an offensive that ended last weekend, but a growing illegal narcotics trade that helps fund the insurgency is gaining ground, NATO's top military command said today.
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Afghanistan welcomed on Thursday U.S. plans to send an extra 3,000 troops to fight the Taliban insurgency, but Washington's move highlights divisions between Western allies over how much to commit to the country.
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KABUL, Afghanistan -- NATO nations failed to agree on calls by military commanders for 2,500 extra troops to help crush the growing Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan, where at least 50 people were killed yesterday in widespread violence.
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U.S.-led coalition troops killed seven suspected Taliban militants in southern Afghanistan, and Australia announced on Wednesday that six of its special forces soldiers were wounded in the same area earlier this month.
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U.S.-led coalition airstrikes killed more than 45 Islamist Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, the U.S. military said.
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Taliban militants in southern Afghanistan are launching fewer direct attacks on Canadian troops because they suffer heavy casualties from such operations, a senior officer said on Tuesday.
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SEVILLE, Spain  - The United States stepped up pressure on NATO allies on Thursday to send more troops to Afghanistan to crush an expected Taliban offensive, saying the next few weeks would be pivotal in battling the insurgency.
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Afghan and US-led troops killed more than 60 Taliban rebels in two days of fierce fighting, while two NATO soldiers died in separate clashes, officials said Monday.