British troops leave Afghan district

AP ^ | 10/17/06 | FISNIK ABRASHI

[TexKat]

KABUL, Afghanistan - British troops pulled out of a troubled district in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, while a U.S.-led coalition airstrike killed a suspected midlevel Taliban commander and up to 15 other militants, NATO said.

NATO also said it was launching a new countrywide military operation with Afghan forces to maintain pressure on the Taliban over the fall and winter, and pave the way for long-promised development after the bitterest fighting in five years.

Mark Laity, a NATO spokesman in Kabul, said the decision to withdraw the British troops from Helmand province's Musa Qala district follows an agreement with tribal elders and the provincial governor, and was supported by President Hamid Karzai.

The troops left "because of the sustained period of calm," Laity said, adding that Afghan security forces answerable to the Afghan government would now be in charge of security there. "There has not been any contact with the Taliban and they are not involved in this." Laity said 35 days have passed since the last major clash in the district.

Musa Qala has been one of the most volatile regions of Helmand, where about 4,000 British troops who deployed to the province in the spring have met with stiffer resistance than expected from resurgent Taliban militants.

The British Ministry of Defense said the pullout did not represent a setback.

"If anything, it actually proves that there's been an improved security situation because we are able to hand over to Afghan police," said a ministry spokeswoman, speaking on condition of anonymity in keeping with government policy.

"We've left Musa Qala, but that doesn't mean we've left the area," she said, adding: "We maintain a presence" in nearby districts.

Taliban resistance has eased a little in recent weeks, but its militants have kept up a steady stream of suicide attacks.

Three 500-pound bombs, meanwhile, were dropped early Tuesday on a compound in the Khod Valley of southern Uruzgan province, in support of a NATO-led operation targeting militants who had previously ambushed NATO and Afghan troops, an alliance statement said.

The strike killed a suspected midlevel Taliban commander and up to 15 other suspected militants, statement said. No civilians were hurt or neighboring buildings damaged, it said.

NATO did not name the suspected Taliban commander.

In Kabul, Gen. David Richards, the commander of the 31,000 NATO-led troops, announced the launch of Operation Eagle, but gave few details including how many NATO and Afghan forces would be involved and where in Afghanistan it would be focused.

Last week, he said a majority of Afghans would likely switch their allegiance to the Taliban if their lives showed no visible improvements in the next six months.

"The underlying purpose of this integrated security operation is to allow and encourage much needed reconstruction and development to take place across Afghanistan," Richards said.

Also Tuesday, suspected Taliban militants destroyed an oil tanker transporting fuel for NATO-led peacekeepers and killed its driver in southern Kandahar province's Spin Boldak district, said Gen. Abdul Raziq, a border police official.

[TexKat]

Britain soldiers, part of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) stand guard near the area of a press conference in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2006. British troops pulled out of a troubled district in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, while a U.S.-led coalition air strike killed a suspected midlevel Taliban commander and up to 15 other militants, NATO said. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq))