NATO To Retake Taliban-Occupied Town

Top NATO officials said Saturday their forces will recapture a southern Afghan town overrun by Taliban militants, but the operation will be careful to avoid civilian casualties.

Gen. David Richards, the outgoing British commander of the NATO-led force, said his troops will not "use kinetic force in the way I think some people are concerned about" in trying to recapture the town of Musa Qala in Helmand province, which British troops left after a contentious peace agreement in October.

Hundreds of Taliban militants overran Musa Qala on Thursday evening, destroying the government center and temporarily holding elders hostage, officials and residents said Friday.

A number of Taliban militants remained in the town, and there were reports they were reinforcing their positions, said Col. Tom Collins, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force.

"It is only a matter of time before (the) government re-establishes control, and that is going to happen," Collins said.

Richards said NATO would be careful in planning the offensive to take back the town to protect the "the lives and property of the people of Musa Qala." He said the Taliban tactic of temporarily overrunning a town was not unique.

A purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, said that the Taliban took over the town of Musa Qala in response to a number of NATO attacks on the militants in the area, which he said violated the agreement.

The militants' assault, days after a Taliban commander was killed outside the town, raises doubts about the future of the peace deal, which has been criticized by some Western officials as a NATO retreat in hostile Taliban territory.

But NATO said that the Taliban were never part of the agreement and "by their actions, the Taliban have ended over four months of peace in Musa Qala which, until now, had seen a return to normality with reconstruction and development getting under way."

"It is very clear that the Taliban are acting against the wishes of the people of Musa Qala," NATO said in a statement.

Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, the spokesman for the defense ministry, said that Afghan security forces together with NATO-led troops will "very soon" launch an operation to recaptured the town.

British forces are based in Helmand province but left Musa Qala in October after a peace agreement was signed between elders and the Helmand governor. According to the deal, security was turned over to local leaders, while NATO forces were prevented from entering the town.

Some Western officials complained that the deal put the area, which had been a center for clashes between British troops and resurgent Taliban militants, outside of government and NATO control.

Asadullah Wafa, the governor of Helmand province, said the militants destroyed part of the compound housing the district's governor and police. "People have closed down the shops this morning and those living near the area have moved out of fear," he said Friday.

Mohammad Wali, a resident of Musa Qala who estimated that between 200 and 300 fighters were in town, said residents feared fighting between NATO and militants would resume. Raz Mohammad, another resident, said the Taliban had taken about 12 town elders hostage. Collins said there were indications the elders were now safe.

Late last month, NATO said an air strike outside of Musa Qala destroyed a Taliban command post, killing a senior militant leader and a number of his deputies. NATO said the Jan. 25 air strike "was outside the area of the agreement" and did not violate it.

However, Wafa said the Taliban told a gathering of elders last week that they considered the air strike a violation, and it appeared the assault was in retaliation.

Violence in Afghanistan has risen sharply in the last year. Some 4,000 people died in insurgency-related violence in 2006, according to a count by The Associated Press based on numbers from Afghan, NATO and U.S. officials.

American Gen. Dan McNeil on Sunday will replace British Gen. David Richards as the commander of more than 40,000 NATO-led troops in Afghanistan. Military officials have said privately that the change of command will mark a new approach in dealing with resurgent Taliban militants.