Western forces say squeeze Taliban in Afghan south

KABUL, June 1 (Reuters) Despite the loss of a NATO Chinook helicopter this week with seven servicemen aboard, a British-led thrust to drive the Taliban from strongholds in Helmand province is yielding success, Western military officials said today.

''We're creating pockets in which the Taliban are caught.

We're just squeezing them,'' Lieutenant-Colonel Charlie Mayo, a spokesman for British forces in Helmand, told Reuters.

A force of 2,000 troops, including 1,000 British and 500 Afghan National Army soldiers backed by Danes, Estonians and elements of the elite US 82nd Airborne, launched the operation two days ago to trap Taliban militants north of the Sangin Valley and in the Kajaki dam region, officials said.

Improving security in Helmand, a vast province of deserts, fertile valleys and towering mountains that is the heartland of ethnic Pashtun sympathy for the Taliban, is the aim of ''Operation Lastay Kulang,'' or ''axe-handle'' in the local Pashto language.

The province is the leading producer of opium poppies in Afghanistan, which supplies about 90 per cent of the world's heroin. Authorities say the Taliban is heavily involved in the drugs trade and have stepped up anti-narcotics operations to choke the militants' funding.

Securing the area around the Kajaki dam, a key hydro-electric project that could bring power to hundreds of thousands of poor Afghans, is a key objective.

Officials hope a turbine can be transported to Kajaki this summer for a power project that by some estimates could improve electricity for 2 million Afghans.

''It's about stabilising this region, helping local governments get established. It's getting people to believe we're not leaving tomorrow,'' Mayo said.

Dozens of Taliban were killed and wounded in fierce fighting on Thursday near Kajaki, the Afghan defence ministry said.

In recent weeks the towns of Sangin and Gereshk were cleared of Taliban, allowing the installation of a local governor in Sangin and opening the way for tribal councils to meet, officials said.

''The operation is absolutely on track,'' said Lieutenant-Colonel David Accetta, a US military spokesman.

Following a winter lull, fighting has surged in recent weeks between Western forces and the Taliban, whose radical Islamist government was ousted by a US-led invasion in 2001.

Taliban guerrillas have carried out a series of suicide bombings, roadside explosions and attacks on Afghan police.

Sixteen policemen died in a Taliban ambush yesterday in southern Zabul province.

The downed Chinook was part of an air support operation by the elite US 82nd Airborne. The twin-rotor troop transporter had just dropped soldiers in an area of heavy fighting and may have been hit by enemy fire, NATO said.

All those aboard - five American crew, a Briton and a Canadian - were killed, according to officials.

The Taliban gave two figures for casualties in the crash - 35 and 60 foreign troops killed. Taliban death tolls have often been exaggerated and NATO called the claim ''absurd.'' A US military official said the Chinook only carries 28 battle-equipped troops, plus crew.

REUTERS SW VV1929