3,200 Taliban killed in Afghanistan in 90 days
By IANSWednesday, December 1, 2010
LONDON - Secret operations of British and US troops have led to the death of nearly 3,200 Taliban militants in just around 90 days in Afghanistan, a media report said Wednesday.
British Special Air Service (SAS) and Special Boat Service (SBS) personnel, US Delta Force units, Afghan Special Forces Tiger Teams and troops from other coalition forces hit enemy targets relentlessly for three months.
Of the killed or captured Taliban militants, 387 were top level commanders, The Sun reported.
These figures were handed to SAS official Andy McNab at a top-level briefing in Afghanistan capital Kabul.
The operations were part of the “autumn showdown”, launched to crush the Taliban before they “skulk off for winter”.
McNab said: “We are nailing the Taliban. We are killing and capturing them on an industrial scale. This wasn’t a blanket approach to killing. These are tactical missions. Troopers are now specifically targeting the Taliban leadership, and those who fight for the Taliban.”
McNab, however, said some commanders were worried that younger, more radical Taliban fighters will take the place of dead leaders.
“If a new generation of radical Taliban step into these dead men’s shoes, they too will be killed or captured,” he said.
