Kabul, Afghanistan – U.S.-led forces used artillery and airstrikes to kill more than 165 insurgents and repel massed assaults on coalition troops in two strongholds of Taliban militants and Afghanistan’s rampant drug trade, officials said Wednesday.
The battles in Helmand and Uruzgan provinces came shortly before President Bush and Afghan President Hamid Karzai met in New York to discuss worsening fighting in Afghanistan and growing opium production, insisting progress was being made.
Nearly six years after a U.S.- led offensive toppled the Taliban regime for sheltering Osama bin Laden, violence related to the insurgency has escalated. More than 4,500 people, mostly militants, have died this year, according to an Associated Press tally of figures from Afghan and Western officials.
The two latest battles came amid a spike in violence during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and as the military makes a last big thrust against insurgents before colder weather forces a lull in fighting in the mountainous nation.
One of the battles was an assault by several dozen insurgents on a joint coalition-Afghan patrol near the Taliban- controlled town of Musa Qala in Helmand early Tuesday, which the U.S.-led coalition said set off a day-long fight that drew in more Taliban insurgents.
The coalition said its troops responded with artillery fire and attacks by fighter-bombers that killed more than 100 militants. One coalition soldier was reported killed and four wounded. The coalition reported no civilian casualties.
The coalition said the second battle was in neighboring Uruzgan province, where more than 80 Taliban fighters attacked a joint Afghan-coalition patrol from multiple bunkers near the village of Kakrak and set off a six-hour fight Tuesday night.
Artillery fire and airstrikes on the Taliban positions killed more than 65 insurgents, the coalition said. Three civilians were wounded in the crossfire and taken to a military medical facility, it said. No Afghan or coalition soldiers were hurt.
Karzai and Bush talked on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. Despite the rise in opium production and the surge in Taliban activities, Bush said, Afghanistan is becoming a safer, more stable country because of Karzai’s efforts.
“Mr. President, you have strong friends here,” Bush told the Afghan leader after they met for about an hour at a hotel.
“I expect progress and you expect progress, and I appreciate the report you have given me today,” Bush added.
Karzai said that “Afghanistan has indeed made progress,” citing improvements in basic services such as roads and education.
