ASIA-PACIFIC Nato’s top general in southern Afghanistan says that Taliban fighters are increasingly under pressure to vacate many war-torn areas of the south in order to concentrate on providing effective resistance to UK troops in Helmand province.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Major General Mart de Kruif, who leads Nato’s southern command, said UK forces in Helmand were “bearing the brunt” of the Taliban insurgency in the south. As a result, he said, Nato was making progress in establishing development zones in neighbouring provinces because Taliban insurgents were being forced to focus their efforts on central Helmand.
