NATO: Taliban Outnumbered in Kandahar  09/07 10:57

   The NATO-led coalition has overwhelming numerical superiority over the 
Taliban around the key southern Afghan city of Kandahar and expects to clear 
the area of insurgents by November's end, a top commander said Tuesday.

   BRUSSELS (AP) -- The NATO-led coalition has overwhelming numerical 
superiority over the Taliban around the key southern Afghan city of Kandahar 
and expects to clear the area of insurgents by November's end, a top commander 
said Tuesday.

   Whether the operation's success will last, however, will depend on the 
Afghan government's ability to offer the area long-term security, Maj. Gen. 
Nick Carter said.

   The operation to firm up security in Kandahar, with a population of about a 
half million with another half million in the hinterlands, is by far the 
biggest in the nine-year war.

   The city served as the capital of the Taliban when the Islamist militia rose 
to power in Afghanistan in the 1990s. Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden used it 
as his base during the 9/11 attacks. Now, the insurgency draws its greatest 
strength from the province and the neighboring region, dominated by the ethnic 
Pashtun majority who form the Taliban core.

   Carter said there were 10,000-12,000 Afghan national army troops in the 
region along with 5,000 Afghan police, besides about 15,000 international 
troops. They face about 1,000 guerrillas, said Carter, who heads Regional 
Command South, where Kandahar is located.

   Coalition forces have been trying for years to pacify villages around 
Kandahar City, which the insurgents use to infiltrate the biggest urban center 
of the south.

   Although the international force has always been succesful in clearing the 
militants, they have managed to return within months because the NATO-led 
coalition didn't have the forces to hold on to the areas.

   "You need to dominate the population and dominate the ground ... in order to 
secure the solution," Carter said.

   He said most of the coalition effort was aimed at clearing the Taliban from 
the surrounding districts of Zhari and Panjwai and along Highway 1, "where they 
operate ... with a degree of freedom of action."

   "I shan't go into the timing of all this, suffice it to say it will happen 
in 2-3 months," Carter said during a video conference from Kandahar. "Our 
expectation is that by mid- to the end of November we will have rid those areas 
of the Taliban."

   The NATO force in Regional Command South consists mainly of Americans, 
British and Canadians, along with Slovak, French and Belgian contingents.

   While acknowledging that the ultimate success of the operation depends on 
the Afghan government's long-term security capabilities, Carter suggested 
patience.

   "These things take time, and if you give (the government) time there's a 
sporting chance it will prevail," he said.


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