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Taliban losses in Afghanistan, gains in Pakistan
The latest round of fighting in southeastern Afghanistan has claimed over 82 Taliban fighters in two separate engagements in Kandahar and Uruzgan provinces. Security Watchtower provides a breakdown of the estimated casualties of Taliban and Coalition forces in southeastern Afghanistan since the beginning of April. An estimated 600 Taliban have been killed and 22 captured, with 41 Afghan and Coalition security forces killed or wounded combined. The estimated Taliban casualties do not contain the number of wounded, which is often twice the number killed in combat.
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Fighting in Uruzgan; Osama bin Laden sighting in Pakistan
Satellite map of the Afghan-Pakistan border region. Click to Enlarge. The provincial border region of Kandahar, Uruzgan, and Helmand remains a hot spot in Southeastern Afghanistan. Fighting between Coalition forces and the Taliban intensified Tuesday in the Tarin Kowt District of Uruzgan. Over 24 Taliban were confirmed killed after a joint Afghan and Coalition patrol engaged Taliban fighters in the region. Coalition air support was called in to strike Taliban positions. The Afghan military claims up to 60 Taliban were killed in Uruzgan, while suffering five killed and six wounded.
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Fighting in Afghanistan, Talibanistan
Recent activity on the Afghan-Pakistan border. Click to Enlarge. The latest estimate of Taliban casualties during the fighting over the past few days is approaching 200, with 25 Coalition, Afghan security forces and civilians killed. The Daily Times of Pakistan reports the fighting around Kandahar City, which was initiated by two separate Coalition operations, resulted in an estimated 100 Taliban killed. The U.S. military reported up to 60 Taliban were killed in the fighting at Musa Qala, where the Afghan security forces thwarted a major Taliban assault.
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Pakistan’s Taliban Insurgency; Four Mid-Level al Qaeda Operatives and Taliban Commanders killed in Past Week
Clashes between Pakistani security forces and al Qaeda and the Taliban continue in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province. Yesterday, the Pakistani Army hit “suspected Taliban hideouts” with artillery barrages and helicopter strikes after security outposts in North Waziristan came under attack from Taliban fighters. Today in North Waziristan, “a paramilitary trooper and three tribesmen were killed on Sunday in a shoot-out in a restive Pakistani tribal region, as authorities tried to enforce a ban on carrying arms.”
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The Taliban Consolidates Power in Pakistan as Violence Increases in Afghanistan
Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province and Federally Administered Tribal Areas Yesterday’s rocket attack on the U.S. Embassy and NATO’s International Security Assistance Force compound in Kabul, Afghanistan highlights the increased level of violence throughout the country. Coalition and Afghan troop have seen a marked increase in suicide bombings, IED (roadside bombing) attacks and platoon and company-sized attacks from Taliban fighters over the past year. The Taliban’s latest springtime offensive is now in full swing.
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The Waziristan Problem
A recent upsurge in violence in Pakistan’s tribal regions (or Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province) is a cause for great concern for the United States and her allies in the War on Terror. In the past, Pakistani forces conducted several offensives in the region, with mixed results. The tribal area of North Waziristan has seen an increase in clashes between Pakistani forces and pro al Qaeda and Taliban forces. A rocket attack against a Pakistani outpost in Sarbandji village near the town of Miran Shah killed seven Pakistani soldiers. Pakistan claims fourteen “terrorists were killed when…
