By Candace Rondeaux
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, June 20, 2008

KABUL, June 19 -- Hundreds of Afghan and Canadian troops moved to clear Taliban fighters from villages in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, as military officials asserted they had made strong gains in the operation.

Brig. Gen. M. Zaher Azimi, a spokesman for the Afghan Defense Ministry, said troops had seized control of several villages in Arghandab, the district near Kandahar where an estimated 500 Taliban fighters had blown up bridges and laid mines in recent days. Azimi called the joint NATO-Afghan counteroffensive a success, saying that Arghandab had been largely cleared of insurgent activity.

At least 56 Taliban fighters have been killed during the operation so far, according to a NATO official. Two Afghan army soldiers were killed and two others were injured. There have been no NATO casualties, said Mark Laity, a spokesman for NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Laity said that at least two airstrikes had been conducted overnight and that patrols in the area were still underway. He said Afghan and NATO troops have so far encountered "minimal resistance," but added that Afghan claims of impending victory might be premature.

"We're not disputing the success of the operation, but we still think there's work to be done," Laity said.

NATO officials estimated that it could take at least three days to clear the area of Taliban insurgents.

On Wednesday, troops with the Afghan army and the Canadian command of NATO'S International Security Assistance Force launched joint patrols around Arghandab, 12 miles northwest of Kandahar city, after Taliban fighters streamed into the area. The fighters' arrival forced hundreds of villagers to flee.

At a news conference Thursday, Kandahar's provincial governor told reporters that troops were searching for fighters in hiding. The governor, Assadullah Khalid, also said many of the fighters were of Pakistani origin. Afghan officials have frequently contended that Taliban fighters have been permitted to cross the porous border from Pakistan.

NATO had played down the threat posed by the Taliban fighters in Arghandab. Still, troops were deployed quickly to the district, a strategically important area frequently used as a gateway to Kandahar.