Afghanistan Sees Violence Upsurge

Afghanistan has been hit by some of the heaviest fighting since the US-led invasion in 2001 to oust the Taleban.
Taleban fighters are battling police in Helmand province where officials say about 50 militants and 13 police died.

The fighting in Helmand began on Wednesday when Taleban forces stormed the town of Musa Qala. At least 13 Afghan policemen were killed, along with about 50 Taleban fighters, officials said. "It was the biggest attack since the fall of the Taleban," provincial governor Amir Mohammad Akhundzada told Reuters news agency.

Fighting was continuing on Thursday in the village of Sar Besha, about 20km (12 miles) north of the town, a spokesman for Helmand's governor told the BBC.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/HE19Df02.html

Taliban steps up spring offensive

KABUL - Almost daily armed attacks on government officials by the Taliban may have prompted President Hamid Karzai to renew his amnesty offer to supporters of the ousted Afghan regime.

In the latest attack on Wednesday night running into Thursday, reports said as many as 70 Taliban soldiers and 13 policemen had been killed in nine hours of fighting in the southern town of Mosa Qala in Helmand province.

It is the biggest Taliban attack since they were ousted by US-led forces in 2001. Asia Times Online has predicted the surge in the insurgency. (See Taliban's Iraq-style spring is sprung Mar 15).

Karzai recently urged the Taliban to give up the violence and join in the efforts to reconstruct the country. Almost four decades of war and civil strife have reduced Afghanistan to rubble. The Afghan president, whose tone was conciliatory, called the Taliban "victims of outsiders" - but he did not identify these.