It's On In Arghandab Near Kandahar -36 Taliban Dead and Gone So Far

Yep, it didn't take long for NATO and Afghan troops to make the push into the Arghandab district outside of Kandahar where I've been blogging that those villages had been taken over by Taliban. It appears that in the first wave of the NATO offensive, over 36 Taliban have already been killed and a couple of the villages have already been cleared of Taliban completely.

Here's some of the details from AP (wonder if I have to pay for this?):

Afghan and Canadian forces moved into villages outside Kandahar on Wednesday to root out Taliban militants, killing at least 36 insurgents, while an explosion elsewhere killed four British soldiers, officials said.
Troops in Arghandab district just outside of Kandahar, southern Afghanistan's largest city, exchanged fire with militants during "a few minor contacts," NATO spokesman Mark Laity said.
The Afghan Defense Ministry said more than 20 Taliban fighters had been killed in Tabin, a village in Arghandab, while 16 fighters were killed in Khohak, also in Arghandab. Two Afghan soldiers also were killed, the ministry said in a statement. The 12 other militants killed were in nearby Maiwand district, the ministry said.

Now, I'm using the term "NATO" here but it is more correct to say that the majority of the troops fighting here are Canadians - and that isn't good news for the Taliban, because the Canadians have been very adept at gunning the shit out of Taliban in this war.

The reports of air support are sketchy but I have to believe there has been considerable air strikes and Apache support if some villages have been completely cleansed of Taliban. It will be interesting to see if this is over as fast as it started. The encouraging sign is that NATO hasn't wasted time here - they were just presented with this massing of Taliban and dove right into it.

Afghan, NATO troops kill 36 Taliban near Kandahar

ARGHANDAB, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan and Canadian forces moved into villages outside Kandahar on Wednesday to root out Taliban militants, killing at least 36 insurgents, while an explosion elsewhere killed four British soldiers, officials said.
Troops in Arghandab district just outside of Kandahar, southern Afghanistan's largest city, exchanged fire with militants during "a few minor contacts," NATO spokesman Mark Laity said.
The Afghan Defense Ministry said more than 20 Taliban fighters had been killed in Tabin, a village in Arghandab, while 16 fighters were killed in Khohak, also in Arghandab. Two Afghan soldiers also were killed, the ministry said in a statement. The 12 other militants killed were in nearby Maiwand district, the ministry said.
A top provincial official in Kandahar, Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, said hundreds of families had fled to the city, and that some of the villages had already been cleared of Taliban.
Helicopters and jets patrolled the skies and smoke rose from fields after exchanges of fire, an Associated Press reporter at the scene said. A helicopter landed in a field near the fighting and appeared to evacuate a casualty, he said. Large Canadian military vehicles and Afghan police trucks were moving through the region.
Afghanistan's Ministry of Defense on Tuesday said between 300 and 400 militant fighters were operating in Arghandab — a lush region of pomegranate and grape fields that lies 10 miles northwest of Kandahar city, the Taliban's spiritual home.
Canadian military officials who patrolled through Arghandab over the last day reported "no obvious signs" of insurgent activity. But that didn't mean there were no Taliban there, a NATO news release said. Pentagon officials said reports of hundreds of Taliban in Arghandab were being overstated.
However, Karzai, the director of the provincial council, said more than 1,500 families had sought refuge in Kandahar out of fear, many staying with relatives. He said at least 100 Afghan troops were engaged in the fighting.