Afghan, NATO troops to launch major anti-Taliban offensive

Afghan and NATO military spokesmen said Wednesday that thousands of their troops would soon launch a major anti-Taliban operation in the insurgent strongholds of southern Afghanistan, DPA reported.

General Zahir Azimi of the Defence Ministry said the aim of the new operation was "to separate the local civilians from the insurgents, protect the civilians and to facilitate the reconstruction and good governance in the southern provinces."

"The operation will be conducted in central Helmand," Eric Tremblay, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), told the same press conference.

"In terms of strength, there will be a least 1,000 Afghan national police, 1,000 Afghan national army and many thousands of ISAF troops," Tremblay said.

The officials said the offensive, due to begin "soon," would force the Taliban from lawless areas in the region, where they currently hold sway.

Helmand province, which produces more than half of the country's opium and where nearly 10,000 British troops are stationed, experienced heavy fighting between the insurgents and international last year.

The announcement of the planned offensive comes as the US government prepares to deploy an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan this summer on top of the nearly 70,000 already based there.

Other NATO countries are due to send more than 7,000 extra troops this year, taking to more than 140,000 the total number of international troops in the country by summer.

The planned offensive follows a conference on Afghanistan in London last week, where NATO countries endorsed a new reconciliation plan presented by the Afghan government.

In the new initiative, Taliban fighters would be given protection, jobs and other economic incentives in return for their renunciation of violence.

The NATO officials have said that the insurgents, who have expanded their control over larger areas of the country in recent years, would not accept the Afghan government's overtures unless NATO forces gain the upper hand on the battlefield.