Afghan and US authorities said yesterday that troops killed 40 militants in some of the heaviest fighting this year in Afghanistan.
In the biggest clash, the US military said 30 militants died on Thursday in Helmand Province, in a district where a key anti-Taliban lawmaker was killed in a bomb attack the same day.
The toll was the highest from a single clash announced by the military in more than two months, with Afghanistan gearing up for another year of intense fighting against the al-Qaeda-linked Taliban after the winter months.
PHOTO: AP/ROYAL NAVY
On Jan. 7, the US said coalition soldiers killed 32 insurgents in an operation against a Taliban cell near Kabul.
On Thursday, the Afghan army led a joint patrol into an area of Gereshk district where gunmen were known to operate, the US military said.
“The patrol was attacked by numerous armed militants with heavy small-arms and rocket-propelled grenade fire,” it said in a statement.
The “combined element returned fire with small-arms and close air support, killing 30 militants,” it said.
There was no independent confirmation of the toll. One Afghan soldier was slightly injured, according to the military.
“This engagement was yet another blow to the militants, who are quickly losing their ability to operate in Helmand Province,” a coalition spokesman said in the statement.
The province is one of Afghanistan’s most dangerous, with Taliban militants tied into a lucrative illegal opium trade holding large swathes of territory.
On Thursday, lawmaker Dad Mohammad Khan was killed with three of his bodyguards and a senior policeman when a bomb tore through their vehicle in Gereshk. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the blast.
In another clash, Afghan and US-led troops killed seven Taliban fighters who gathered in the southwest province of Farah to attack the provincial governor’s house, the governor said.
Intelligence officials were tipped off about the planned assault and called troops to the scene, Governor Rohul Amin said.
The US military said three more militants were killed yesterday in a raid against a cell involved in making bombs to attack Kabul.
Afghan and coalition troops raided a compound where the insurgents were reported to be holed up in the neighboring province of Logar, it said.
One “enemy combatant” was shot dead hiding behind livestock, and two more were killed after barricading themselves in a building, it said.
Meanwhile, opposition fears of an unfair election this year are well founded, and a rigged poll would fuel political instability and undermine support for democracy, a top UN envoy has warned.
The warning came as Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he welcomed a US deployment of 17,000 extra troops to Afghanistan but that efforts to stabilize the country were “seven years too late.”
Presidential elections are due on Aug. 20, with Karzai expected to be among the candidates. A vote that lacks legitimacy would be further grist for Taliban efforts to undermine popular support for the government and its Western allies.
“All involved — the government, the opposition, and the international community -- must understand the costs of a flawed and unfair election process,” Kai Eide, the UN special envoy to Afghanistan, told the UN Security Council on Thursday.
“The result [of a rigged poll] would be prolonged political instability when stability is more than ever required [and] would create doubt in the minds of many Afghans about the value of democratic processes when confidence is needed,” he said, urging the Kabul government to address opposition concerns on the issue.
In an interview on the US public TV news program NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Karzai said he had been asking for more NATO-led troops to provide security since 2002.
“We kept requesting. It didn’t happen. I wish these troops have arrived at that time. They’re seven years too late,” Karzai responded when asked if he welcomed the additional US forces.
“Even then, for them to come and provide better security to the Afghan people, protect the borders, prevent the crossing of terrorists into Afghanistan, they’re welcome to do that,” Karzai said.
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