U.S. Army soldiers return fire while engaging enemy combatants in the Chak district, Wardak province, Afghanistan, Sept. 25, 2010. The soldiers are assigned to Company A, 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Donald Watkins Nato Surge On Taliban Stronghold Drives Civilians Into The Line Of Fire -- The Independent
As troops step up their attack on the militants' Kandahar heartland, Julius Cavendish meets the ordinary people caught on the frontline.
The first eyewitness accounts of Nato's assault on the final Taliban sanctuary threatening Kandahar City have begun to emerge, painting a picture of sporadic fire fights, steady progress by Afghan and coalition forces, and flight by those inhabitants wealthy or lucky enough to escape the violence.
Earlier this week, Nato began its final and critical phase of a major offensive designed to clear Kandahar, the spiritual home of the Taliban, with hundreds of troops carrying out an air assault on the main insurgent base in the region. In interviews with The Independent, tribal elders, government officials and civilians in Kandahar City provided vivid descriptions of special forces night raids and Nato's bombardment of the area in the preceding month – designed to damage the local Taliban leadership – and the tactics the insurgents used to cow inhabitants before fleeing in the face of coalition firepower.
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My Comment: This report from the Independent was made from the viewpoint of how ordinary Afghans see (and experience) the conflict that is around them. An interesting perspective, and worth the read.