Taliban losing the people in Kandahar fights

AP/Houston Chronicle:

Taliban militants destroyed bridges and planted mines in several villages they control outside southern Afghanistan's largest city in apparent preparation for battle, residents and officials said today.

More than 700 families — meaning perhaps 4,000 people or more — had fled the Arghandab district 10 miles northwest of Kandahar city, said Sardar Mohammad, a police officer manning a checkpoint on the east side of the Arghandab River. Police today stopped and searched every person passing on the road.

On the west side of the river, hundreds of Taliban controlled around nine or 10 villages, Mohammad said.

"Last night the people were afraid, and families on tractors, trucks and taxis fled the area," said Mohammad. "Small bridges inside the villages have been destroyed."

The Afghan army flew four planeloads of soldiers to Kandahar from the capital, Kabul, today. Canadian forces have also moved in to the region.

"When we get permission from commanders, we will attack the Taliban," Mohammad said.

Aircraft of the NATO-led security force dropped leaflets in the Arghandab area telling residents that Afghan troops were coming to force out the Taliban and warning residents to say indoors in case fighting breaks out, said spokesman Mark Laity.

"Some 700 Afghan troops have moved into Arghandab region," he said.

...

A Taliban commander named Mullah Ahmedullah called an Associated Press reporter today and said that around 400 Taliban moved into Arghandab from Khakrez, one district to the north. He said some of the militants released in Friday's prison break had joined the assault.

"They told us, 'We want to fight until the death,'" Ahmedullah said. "We've occupied most of the area and it's a good place for fighting. Now we are waiting for the NATO and Afghan forces."

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One of the thousands of Afghans fleeing Arghandab said Tuesday that families were being forced out just as grape groves needed harvesting, meaning financial ruin for thousands. Haji Ibrahim Khan said Taliban fighters were moving through several Arghandab villages with weapons on their shoulders, planting mines and destroying small bridges.

"They told us to leave the area within 24 hours because they want to fight foreign and Afghan troops," Khan said. "But within a week we should be harvesting, and we were expecting a good one. Now with this fighting we are deeply worried — the grapes are the only source of income we have."

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This appears to be a mistake by the Taliban. They have lost every engagement like this and they are in no better position now. In addition they are alienating the population by pushing them out at harvest time.

The good news for the coalition is that it knows where to find these guys so they can be destroyed. This has the appearance of a Taliban Tet offensive and will probably have the same disastrous consequences for the Taliban that Tet had for the communist. The task for the US and Afghanistan is to not let the media misreport the outcome this time the way they did in the Tet offensive.

CNN reports that some of the villages allegedly taken are not under Taliban control according to a government spokesman.

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But (Afghan General) Branco, the ISAF spokesman, denied the reports of rebel control. "We have no ground truth that the Taliban has taken over villages in the area," he said. "There is no evidence of large concentrations of insurgents."

The U.S.-led coalition said that a national police and coalition troop patrol on Tuesday in Arghandab "moved freely and met no resistance."

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We will find out soon how much of this is Taliban PR hype.