![]() They tend to be more fanatical and violent, and they often bring skills such as the ability to post more sophisticated videos on the Internet or bombmaking expertise. An estimated 100 to 300 full-time combatants are foreigners, usually from Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Chechnya, various Arab countries and perhaps even Turkey and western China. In 2007, more foreign fighters were showing up in Afghanistan than ever before, according to Afghan and United States officials. The rest are part-timers, made up of alienated, young Afghan men angry at bombing raids or fighting in order to get money. Of that number, "only 2,000 to 3,000 are highly motivated, full-time insurgents", the Times reported. The strength of Taliban forces was estimated by Western officials and analysts at about 10,000 fighters fielded at any given time, according to an October 30 report in The New York Times. This was said to have stopped a potential Taliban offensive on Kandahar. ĭuring the last days of October, Canadian forces surrounded around 300 militants near Arghandab and killed at least 50 of them. On October 28, 2007, about 80 Taliban fighters were killed in a six-hour battle with forces from the US-led coalition in Afghanistan's Helmand province. On August 28, 2007, at least 100 Taliban fighters and one Afghan National Army soldier were killed in several skirmishes in the Shah Wali Kot district of Kandahar province. The Taliban assault was repulsed, with at least two dozen Taliban fighters killed. Taliban fighters launched a direct assault on a US and Afghan coalition firebase codenamed Firebase Anaconda on August 8. On June 18, the Taliban forces retreated and fled in the mountains, leaving the city heavily damaged but in the hands of ISAF. This battle has proved to be the biggest Taliban offensive of the year in Afghanistan, and resulted in the death of more than 250 people in just three days. It was a battle between mainly Dutch and Australian ISAF and Afghan forces on one side and Taliban forces on the other for the control of the Chora District which is regarded by the Taliban as a highly strategic area. The Battle of Chora took place in and around the town of Chora (3,000 inhabitants), in Orūzgān Province, between June 15 and June 19, 2007. Operation Achilles ended on and was immediately followed by Operation Lastay Kulang that night.ĭutch army PzH 2000 firing on Taliban in Chura. On May 12, 2007, only ISAF Special Forces and U.S.forces,(William "Willo" Calzada,(.), james Brown, Billy Orson), International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) killed Mullah Dadullah, a notorious Taliban commander in charge of leading operations in the south of the country eleven other Taliban fighters were killed in the same firefight. On May 1, British Major-General Jacko Page replaced Dutch Major-General Ton van Loon as ISAF Regional Commander South. Taliban forces though were still in surrounding areas. A combined operation of Afghan, British, Canadian, Danish, Estonian and US forces removed the Taliban from Sangin, and the Afghan government were able to return. īritish and ISAF forces continued to battle the Taliban, who had besieged the Sangin District of Helmand Province since June 2006 through to April 2007. The 120 member Marine unit responsible for the attack was asked to leave the country because the incident damaged the unit's relations with the local Afghan population. The event has become known as the Shinwar Massacre. Marines in the Shinwar district of the Nangrahar province of Afghanistan as the Americans reacted to a bomb ambush with excessive force, hitting groups of bystanders along 10 miles (16 km) of highway with machine gun fire. On March 4, 2007, at least 12 civilians were killed and 33 were injured by U.S. Further operations, such as Operation Silver and Operation Silicon, were conducted to keep up the pressure on the Taliban in the hopes of blunting their expected spring offensive. The UK ministry of defence announced its intention to bring British troop levels in the country up to 7,700 (committed until 2009). This was followed by Operation Achilles, a major sweeping offensive that started in March and ended in late May. In January and February 2007, British Royal Marines mounted Operation Volcano to clear insurgents from firing points in the village of Barikju, north of Kajaki. American and British troops in Helmand province, April 2007. ![]()
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