Massive operation aims to retake Taliban town

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KABUL, Dec 8 (AFP): Afghan and international forces are engaged in a massive operation to retake the strategically important town of Musa Qala which has been held by the Taliban for 10 months, North Atlantic Treaty organization (NATO) said Saturday.
Troops were dropped on the outskirts late Friday and overnight by a fleet of helicopters amid efforts to oust the rebels.
The town, in Afghanistan's opium-producing heartland in the southern province of Helmand, was surrounded and air strikes were launched, Afghan defence ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi said.
Azimi would not give an update today but ISAF said the operation had continued throughout the night.
"The operation was launched yesterday and it will proceed at the appropriate pace," ISAF spokesman Major Charles Anthony said.
The campaign, expected to last a few days, is being led by Afghan soldiers backed by British ISAF troops and the US-led coalition, which also operates in Afghanistan.
A Taliban commander has said there are 2,500 armed fighters in Musa Qala, according to the institute for war and peace reporting, which had a reporter in the town late November.
Hundreds of Taliban seized Musa Qala in early February, destroying the administration and booting out a council of elders who ran the town.
The elders had four months earlier asked the British troops to pull out saying they could persuade the Taliban to leave them alone.
The agreement, which came after heavy fighting in the town, was widely criticised including by the commander of ISAF, US General Dan McNeill, who took charge of the 38-nation force days after Musa Qala was lost.
The town has effectively become a base for Taliban operations in Helmand and is the only semi-urban area they control. They have moved into other district centres but have been ejected after a few days.
The extremists were removed from government in 2001 for harbouring Al-Qaeda and are now waging an insurgency which they believe will put them back in power.