Coalition Reports Heavy Toll For Taliban

KABUL, Sept. 26 -- U.S.-led forces used artillery and airstrikes to kill more than 165 insurgents and repel large assaults on coalition troops in two Taliban strongholds, officials said Wednesday.

The battles in Helmand and Uruzgan provinces came shortly before President Bush and Afghan President Hamid Karzai met in New York to discuss Afghanistan's escalating violence and rising opium poppy production. Both said progress was being made.

Nearly six years after a U.S.-led offensive toppled the Taliban government for sheltering Osama bin Laden, violence related to the insurgency has escalated. More than 4,500 people, mostly combatants, have died this year, according to an Associated Press tally of figures from Afghan and Western officials.

The two latest battles were part of a spike in violence during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The military is making a major thrust against insurgents before colder weather forces a lull in fighting in the mountainous nation.

One of the battles began with an assault by several dozen insurgents on a joint coalition-Afghan patrol near the Taliban-controlled town of Musa Qala in Helmand early Tuesday, which the U.S.-led coalition said set off a day-long fight that drew in more Taliban insurgents.

The coalition said its troops responded with artillery fire and attacks by fighter-bombers that killed more than 100 guerrillas. One coalition soldier was reported killed and four were wounded. The coalition reported no civilian casualties.

The coalition said the second battle was in neighboring Uruzgan province, where more than 80 Taliban fighters attacked a joint Afghan-coalition patrol Tuesday night.

Artillery fire and airstrikes on the Taliban positions killed more than 65 insurgents, the coalition said. Three civilians were wounded in the crossfire, it said. No Afghan or coalition soldiers were hurt. The battle took place near Deh Rawood, where more than three dozen insurgents were killed six days earlier as they prepared an ambush, the coalition said.

Karzai and Bush talked on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. Despite the rise in opium poppy production and the surge in Taliban activities, Bush said Afghanistan is becoming a safer, more stable country because of Karzai's efforts.

"Mr. President, you have strong friends here," Bush told the Afghan leader. "I expect progress and you expect progress and I appreciate the report you have given me today."