KABUL — NATO and Afghan forces pushed back hundreds of Taliban fighters from a district center in northeastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, sending them fleeing into the rugged mountainside just hours after the fighters had seized control over a portion of that same area, Afghan officials said.
About 300 insurgents began surrounding the district center of Do Ab in Nuristan province four days ago, engaging in sporadic gunfights with local police as they approached, said Jumaluddin Badar, the provincial governor. The militants overran the western part of the town late Tuesday night, destroying a government building, a mosque and a health clinic with rocket strikes, he said.
The Taliban victory may have been short- lived, but it represented a continuing effort by militants to grab and hold land in the province left vacant by U.S. forces, who have been steadily withdrawing from remote outposts in favor of protecting population centers.
