Another bad day for the Taliban

AP/Fox News:

Afghan troops backed by foreign soldiers and airpower killed about 70 suspected Taliban fighters in raids close to the Pakistan border and elsewhere in the country, authorities said Saturday.

...

U.S.-led troops and Afghan security forces raided compounds late Friday in three villages in the remote Pitigal Valley border region, where intelligence showed that top militant leaders take refuge as they travel between Pakistan and Afghanistan, the U.S.-led coalition said.

More than 20 insurgents were killed and 11 others were detained, while officers also discovered a bomb-making factory, it said in a statement.

In the central province of Ghazni, Afghan police attacked a group of Taliban planning to strike security forces, killing 18 and arresting six others, said provincial police Gen. Ali Shah Ahmadai.

"It was a successful operation," he said.

A coalition statement said the operation was targeting "a militant responsible for facilitating the movement of foreign fighters." It resulted in the seizure of mortar and artillery rounds, numerous hand grenades, rocket-propelled grenades and other ammunition, it said. It did not say if the targeted militant was among those killed or provide any other details.

...

In Musa Qala district in southern Helmand province, a combined police and coalition patrol came under attack on Friday from mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire, the coalition said in a statement. In the fight that ensued, almost two dozen insurgents were killed, it said.

No Afghan or coalition soldiers, or civilians, were killed, it said.

Also in Musa Qala, Afghan forces Saturday called in coalition airstrikes after coming under attack, the coalition said. Seven insurgents were killed, the statement said.

...

... Taliban commanders were not available for comment.

...

The Taliban don't need to comment when they have the AP filling in of their propaganda efforts most of which which I edited out. The AP still goes with the misleading violence metric which tends to ignore that most of the violence winds up killing Taliban forces even when they initiate it. The attack in Musa Qala indicates that the Taliban are having little success against government units either. The AP bias against kinetic operations even when the enemy is being killed in great number needs to be addressed. There is some progress though. The AP did not claim any of the casualties were civilian. That Taliban propaganda trick has worn too thin.