Afghanistan - Defeating the Taleban

Nice to see the AP reporting the good news from Afghanistan. Though they do try to spin it a bit with the misleading headline and first paragraph. And they try to downplay the success we're having.

KABUL, Afghanistan - British troops pulled out of a troubled district in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, while a U.S.-led coalition airstrike killed a suspected midlevel Taliban commander and up to 15 other militants, NATO said.

NATO also said it was launching a new countrywide military operation with Afghan forces to maintain pressure on the Taliban over the fall and winter, and pave the way for long-promised development after the bitterest fighting in five years.

As most left wing media do, the AP doesn't tell you that the reason for the recent bitter fighiting has been our offensive to extend Karzai's control over the entire country. We've been hunting down and killing the Taleban by the thousands.

As for the "troubled district"...

Mark Laity, a NATO spokesman in Kabul, said the decision to withdraw the British troops from Helmand province's Musa Qala district follows an agreement with tribal elders and the provincial governor, and was supported by President Hamid Karzai.

The troops left "because of the sustained period of calm," Laity said, adding that Afghan security forces answerable to the Afghan government would now be in charge of security there. "There has not been any contact with the Taliban and they are not involved in this." Laity said 35 days have passed since the last major clash in the district.

The launch of this new operation shows NATO is going to continue to persue the Taleban over the winter months.

And that's a good thing.