Air strikes kill Taliban commander, 16 others in Afghanistan

October 10th, 2009 KABUL - Six Taliban militants, including a rebel commander, were killed in fighting with the security forces in Wardak province in Afghanistan, police said Saturday. The special forces backed by the international troops attacked a Taliban hideout in Chek district Friday, killing Mullah Yasin, a senior Taliban commander, along with his five associates, senior police officer General Abdul Razaq said.

September 29th, 2009 KABUL - A key Taliban commander was killed in Afghanistan's Kunduz province by policemen, police said Tuesday. "Policemen shot dead Taliban key commander Mullah Rashid in Kunduz province during an operation Monday evening," said the province's Inspector General of Police Abdul Razaq Yaqubi.

September 2nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - A leading conservative columnist, George Will, has called on the Obama administration to pull American troops out of Afghanistan, and instead focus on fighting from "offshore" by means of "intelligence, drones, cruise missiles, air strikes and small, potent Special Forces units." According to the Washington Post, there seems to be some merit in waging an "offshore" war, given the success that has been achieved in neighbouring Pakistan against the Taliban with the help of Predator drone strikes, minimum troop deployment and contractors. The acknowledged U.S.

August 10th, 2009 KABUL - Taliban leader Mullah Omar's council is reportedly waiting for a response from the United States to its demands before deciding on the fate of a captured American soldier. It was the first news of 23-year-old Private First Class Bowe R Bergdahl since a Taliban video was released on July 18, certifying that he was in the captivity of the militants.

July 17th, 2009 KABUL - Taliban commanders delivered an ultimatum to the U.S. military on Thursday to withdraw from south eastern Afghanistan or an American soldier they had captured last week would be killed.

July 14th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pro-government militia killed at least 15 Islamist insurgents in Pakistan's Mohmand tribal district near the Afghan border, a security official said Tuesday. Local tribesmen in the district's Ambar village Monday night asked the guerrillas to leave their area, triggering an intense gunfight that continued through Tuesday morning.

July 8th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - More than 50 people were killed Wednesday in two separate strikes by US pilotless aircraft on Taliban in Pakistan's ungoverned tribal region near Afghan border, security officials said. Five missiles fired allegedly by a US drone targeted a motor convoy of Islamist insurgents in Sararogha area of South Waziristan, a safe haven of Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters launching cross border attacks on US-led international forces in Afghanistan.

June 27th, 2009 LAHORE - The International Security Assistance Force deputy commander, Lieutenant General Jim Dutton, has said that the Pakistan military's operation against Baitullah Mehsud is extremely important in defeating the Taliban on both sides of the Pak-Afghanistan border. The Daily Times quoted him as saying, that the troop surge in Afghanistan could push the Taliban back to their original positions, including Pakistan.

June 24th, 2009 KABUL - Afghan troops killed 23 Taliban fighters in Uruzgan province, a senior military commander said Wednesday. "Acting upon intelligence report, Afghan troops backed by the US-led Coalition forces pounded Taliban militants in Chinartook area, killing 23 rebels including their commander Mullah Ismael Kuchi," commander of Afghan Corps in the region General Shir Mohammad Zazi told Xinhua.

June 22nd, 2009 NEW YORK - General Stanley A. McChrystal, the new American commander in Afghanistan, has said he would sharply restrict the use of airstrikes here, in an effort to reduce the civilian deaths, which were undermining the US-led mission.

June 20th, 2009 PESHAWAR - In yet another incident which proves that fissures in the Taliban are getting wider, the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud has rejected the calls of the Taliban's supreme leader Mullah Muhammad Omar Akhund for halting terror strikes in Pakistan. According to sources, Akhund had asked Mehsud to stop the terror acts in Pakistan and focus more on activities against the US led allied forces in Afghanistan.

June 18th, 2009 LAHORE - In what may be seen as a probable fissure in the Taliban's leadership, a commander of the outlawed organization, Qari Zainudin Mehsud, has blamed the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud for all the terror strikes in Pakistan. Mehsud said he was not in favour of carrying out attacks inside Pakistan, as it was against Islam.

June 7th, 2009 Taliban attacks kill 9 in AfghanistanKABUL — A Taliban ambush in northwestern Afghanistan killed four policemen early Sunday, while militants killed five other people at the eastern border near Pakistan, officials said. Militants attacked a police security post in northwestern Faryab province, sparking a one-hour battle that killed four police, said Khalil Andrabi, the provincial police chief.

May 6th, 2009 US commander: Taliban beheading led to air strikesKABUL — Amid a U.S. apology for civilian deaths in Afghanistan, the commander of U.S.

March 21st, 2009 KABUL - Thirteen Taliban militants were killed in fighting with Afghan security forces in the southern province of Helmand, a military official said Saturday. Twentyfive people were also detained following the Friday night operation, Helmand military commander Mohidin Ghori said.