Sun, Sep 17, 2006 page1

• NATO death tolls raise skepticism in Afghanistan

  • AP
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  Over the past two weeks, NATO says it has killed more than 500 Taliban militants near Afghanistan's main southern city of Kandahar, in the deadliest battle since US warplanes bombed the militia out of power in late 2001.

  Locals also hear that there have been heavy Taliban losses. But the NATO claim has still been greeted with some skepticism and is proving a double-edged sword for the alliance, indicating not just military success but a bigger Taliban resistance movement than anyone anticipated.

  "If they kill that many, the Taliban must have thousands of fighters on that front," said Mohammed Arbil, a former Northern Alliance commander.

  NATO has stood by its battle assessments, and one official with its International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan revealed that its internally circulated estimates of militant dead that were more than double what it has publicized to journalists.

  "It's important you believe us," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the issue's sensitivity. "We'd rather have a lower figure that we can back up than a higher one that stretches your willingness to trust us."

  NATO says the high toll is due to its superior firepower over the Taliban -- the alliance's fighter jets and artillery against the militants' roadside bombs and assault rifles. It says it has avoided civilian casualties because it gave prior warning to residents to evacuate.

  The inability of journalists to reach the battlefield has made it virtually impossible to check those claims. Hundreds of families displaced from the targeted Panjwayi district are also in the dark, and don't even know if their homes are still intact.

  The onslaught, that has dispelled any doubts about NATO's willingness to use overwhelming military force on its Afghan mission, has prompted a mixed reaction among Afghans. In Kabul, there's disbelief that so many guerrillas could be killed and citizens escape unscathed. In Kandahar City, closer to the battle, there's dismay over the intensity of the fighting, and calls for peace talks.

  "Who are these Taliban? They are Afghans," said Mira Jan, a displaced 42-year-old grape farmer from Panjwayi. "NATO and the government must make a ulema [Muslim clerics'] council and with tribal elders and convince the Taliban to stop fighting."

  The Taliban have stepped up attacks this year, and NATO forces who took charge of security in the south last month from a US-led coalition have become embroiled in the bloodiest combat since the hardline regime was ousted for hosting Osama bin Laden. Expecting hit-and-run guerrilla tactics, NATO have often faced organized militant forces that stand and fight.

  Nowhere has that been more apparent that in Panjwayi, a rural district of dried-mud houses scattered among orchards where hundreds of Taliban militants had massed, posing a threat to Kandahar City, the former seat of power of the Islamist regime, just 25km away.

  NATO launched Operation Medusa on Sept. 2 to wipe them out.

  When NATO announced by the second day of the offensive that its artillery and airstrikes had killed more than 200 militants, skeptical journalists without access to the action -- following a government warning that anyone straying off the main road could be shot as suspected Taliban -- pressed for details, such as where were the bodies and how are they counted.

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