Afghan and Nato-led troops have killed some 35 Taliban insurgents in offensives in east Afghanistan this week as part of efforts to secure next month's parliamentary elections, coalition forces said today.
"The joint force has killed more than 35 Taliban fighters and captured several key Taliban facilitators in recent days," the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement. Earlier, it had given a figure of 40 dead.
ISAF said the ongoing operation, which began on Saturday and involves air strikes, had uncovered arms and vests for use in suicide attacks. A Taliban spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.
Afghanistan is set to hold a parliamentary election on September 18th, but officials have said more than 900 polling centres, or some 13 per cent of the total, will not open because of security concerns. At least three candidates have been killed in suspected insurgent attacks.
This month, the number of foreign troops killed in the conflict passed the grim milestone of 2,000, with commanders warning of more tough fighting ahead.
A United Nations report found that civilian casualties increased by 31 per cent in the first six months of 2010, more than three-quarters of them blamed on insurgents.
The casualties have grown as the insurgency spreads out of traditional Taliban strongholds in the south and east into the north and west despite the presence of more than 140,000 troops.
In a blow to President Barack Obama, the head of the US Marines said the White House’s setting of July 2011 to start withdrawing troops from Afghanistan is giving the Taliban "sustenance”.
The comments by Marine Corps Commandant General James Conway are the most blunt comments by a top military official of a timetable widely criticised by opposition Republicans, who say it empowers the Taliban to wait out an eventual US withdrawal.
"In some ways, we think right now it is probably giving our enemy sustenance," Gen Conway said of the deadline.