KABUL: NATO said Monday that about 200 Taliban-linked militants had
been killed or captured in major military operations by Afghan and
foreign forces on Afghanistan’s eastern border with Pakistan.
Hundreds
of Afghan troops backed by the US-led International Security Assistance
Force (ISAF) launched a major offensive focused on the troubled border
last week, going after insurgents linked to the hardline Haqqani group.
"As these operations, which were Afghan-led and supported by
ISAF, have concluded, we can now say that at least 20 Haqqani-affiliated
insurgents have been killed or captured," ISAF spokesman, Brigadier
General Carsten Jacobson, told reporters.
About 175 non-Haqqani rebels were also killed or captured, he said, adding that the operations lasted about one week.
The
United States has also pushed Pakistan to squeeze the Haqqani network,
whose leadership has a base across the border in North Waziristan.
Pakistan
denies US accusations that elements within Pakistani intelligence
support the Haqqani network, accused over the September 13 siege of the
US embassy in Kabul. Online
