US begins new Afghan operation
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The US says it has started a new offensive against Taleban and al-Qaeda militants, ahead of a planned poll.
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U.S. forces in Afghanistan vowed on  Wednesday to bolster security in the volatile south and  southeast ahead of a landmark election, as Taliban guerrillas  bent on disrupting the poll launched a fresh wave of attacks.
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NATO will soon assume direct control over most military operations in Afghanistan, a move that will place 12,000 more U.S. troops under its authority, a spokesman for the alliance said Sunday.
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Afghanistan's security forces supported by NATO-led troops will "very soon" launch an operation to clear the southern Afghan town overrun and controlled by Taliban militants, an Afghan official said Saturday.
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Afghan and NATO forces launched a ground and air search operation Friday for an Afghan passenger jet carrying 104 people that disappeared from radar screens during a snowstorm near the mountain-ringed capital. Three Americans were believed to have been on board.
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Vote counting started Thursday in Afghanistan&#39;s landmark election, widely expected to install US-backed interim leader Hamid Karzai as the war-ravaged country&#39;s first popularly chosen president.
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SEVILLE, Spain  - The United States stepped up pressure on NATO allies on Thursday to send more troops to crush an expected Taliban offensive in the coming weeks.
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The US military said it would launch a winter campaign against militants in Afghanistan before upcoming local elections, despite maintaining it was confident an amnesty offer to the Taliban would succeed.
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POIANA BRASOV, Romania : The United States pressed its NATO allies to begin military planning for possibly taking over command of operations in Afghanistan from US forces as early as next year.
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PORTOROZ, Slovenia -- NATO said yesterday that it would take control of military operations across all of Afghanistan in what US Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld hailed as a ``bold step forward."
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British forces in Afghanistan are due to hand control of Nato's International Security Assistance Force to the US.
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The United States urged NATO countries on Wednesday to assume a bigger role in Afghanistan and to come up with a plan to take over all military operations there, possibly as early as next year.
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The 18,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan have begun a new offensive to hunt Taliban and al-Qaida militants through the country's harsh winter, aiming to sap their strength ahead of planned spring elections, the American military said Saturday.
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The United States urged NATO on Wednesday to produce plans to take control of all military operations in Afghanistan, possibly from next year, in a call which spooked some of its alliance partners.
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The United States raised  pressure on NATO allies on Thursday to rush more troops to  Afghanistan to crush an expected Taliban offensive, saying the  coming weeks would be key in battling the insurgency.
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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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The 18,000 US troops in Afghanistan have begun a new offensive to hunt Taliban and al-Qaida militants through the country&#39;s harsh winter, aiming to sap their strength ahead of planned spring elections, the American military said Saturday.