12 Rebels Killed In Afghan Battle

U.S. forces killed more than 12 insurgents in a clash in southeastern Afghanistan, the military said Thursday, while two former Taliban leaders joined a reconciliation drive that American commanders hope will undermine a three-year-old insurgency.

The rebels were killed late Tuesday when U.S. troops fired artillery and scrambled warplanes following a rocket attack on an American base in Khost province, close to the Pakistani border, a military statement said. It said the planes dropped two 500-pound bombs.

"We were able to see the launching point of the rockets and we brought everything we had to bear on it," Maj. J.R. Mendoza, a U.S. Army official based in Khost, said in the statement. "More than a dozen insurgents were killed."

The four rockets fired at the base near Khost city caused no damage or injuries, the statement said.

Taliban militants have vowed to step up their campaign against the 17,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, and have mounted a string of ambushes and roadside bombings along the Pakistani border.

But American commanders insist their insurgency is unraveling in the face of U.S. operations and an offer of reconciliation from the Afghan government.

Two more former Taliban officials took up the offer this week, an Afghan official told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Mullah Mohammed Nazim and Mullah Akhtar Mohammed returned from Pakistan on Wednesday and swore allegiance to Afghanistan's new order at a ceremony in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, said Mohammed Wali, a local government spokesman.

Wali said Nazim had served as governor of Zabul, a former Taliban stronghold and a focus of insurgent operations since U.S. forces drove the hardline militia from power in 2001, and as a military commander in northern Sar-e-Pul province.
Mohammed had been police chief in western Farah province, Wali said.

The official declined to comment on whether the pair had been involved in militant operations since 2001.

"It was difficult for them to come home, but now the problems have been solved," Wali said. "This will give more Taliban the confidence to take advantage of the government's offer," Wali said.

Lt. Gen. David Barno, the commander of the 17,000-strong U.S. force here, warned on Saturday that militants may launch a large-scale attack in coming months, when the country is preparing for Sept. 18 parliamentary elections.

But those who have decided to fight on appear to be taking heavy casualties when confronted by American troops backed up by helicopter gunships and ground-attack aircraft.

On Monday, U.S. and Afghan forces exchanged fire with suspected Taliban rebels in Zabul, killing 17 guerrillas and arresting several more, including several Chechens and Arabs, an Afghan official said.

Another dozen militants were reportedly killed last week when U.S. troops and warplanes reinforced Afghan forces ambushed on a mountain pass near Khost. Two American soldiers were wounded.

Barno has also encouraged Pakistan to expand its military operations against militants on its side of the mountainous frontier.

However, a senior Pakistani general criticized him on Wednesday for suggesting that Pakistan was planning a new offensive in its North Waziristan tribal region, which neighbors Khost.

By Stephen Graham