Taliban fighters mass near city

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN —  Hundreds of Taliban fighters have invaded villages just outside Afghanistan’s second-largest city, forcing NATO and Afghan troops to rush in and frightened residents to flee.

The Taliban assault Monday into the Arghandab district on the outskirts of Kandahar came three days after a Taliban attack on Kandahar’s prison that freed 400 insurgent fighters.

Those fighters, NATO acknowledged Monday, appear to be massing outside the city, the Taliban’s former power base.

The U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization have pleaded for additional troops over the last year and now have about 65,000. But the militants, whose fundamentalist Islamic regime was ousted in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion, are still achieving some successes.

Mohammed Farooq, the government leader in Arghandab, said about 500 Taliban fighters moved into his district and took over several villages Monday. He said families were fleeing even as Canadian, U.S. and Afghan forces were moving in.

A large river dissects Arghandab’s fertile lands. The east side, closest to Kandahar, is controlled by NATO and Afghan troops, Farooq said. The area to the river’s west is now controlled by the Taliban.

“The Taliban told us to leave. They are planting mines everywhere,” said Shafiq Khan, who was moving his wife, seven children and brother out of Arghandab in a small truck.

A tribal leader from Arghandab warned that the militants could use the cover from the region’s orchards to mount an attack on the city.

Maj. Gen. Carlos Branco, a spokesman for the NATO-led force, dismissed the idea. He said he did not believe there were 500 fighters in Arghandab but wouldn’t offer an estimate.

Nevertheless, security in Kandahar had been beefed up noticeably. Officers with rockets on their shoulders kept a lookout from the roof of police headquarters, and the few remaining aid groups in town added guards.