U.S. intensifies fight in Taliban stronghold

KABUL, Afghanistan - Days after Taliban fighters overran Musa Qala, a U.S. commander pledged that Western troops would take it back. Nine months later, the town is still Taliban territory, a symbol of the West's struggles to control the poppygrowing south.

But a string of recent battles around Musa Qala, won overwhelmingly by American Special Forces, signal a renewed U.S. focus on the symbolic Taliban stronghold.

An Afghan army commander said Sunday that U.S. and Afghan forces have taken over the area around the town and that Afghan commanders are holding talks with Musa Qala's tribal leaders to persuade them to expel the Arab, Chechen and Uzbek foreign fighters who roam its streets alongside the Taliban militants.

U.S. Special Forces soldiers accompanied by Afghan troops killed about 80 fighters during a six-hour battle outside Musa Qala on Saturday, the latest in a series of increasingly deadly engagements in Helmand province.

There have been at least five major battles in the area since Sept. 1, including Saturday's fighting, and Special Forces troops have killed more than 250 militants, according to coalition statements.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force, meanwhile, said an investigation into allegations of civilian casualties in Wardak province Oct. 22 found that no civilians had been killed.

Information for this article was contributed from Kandahar by Noor Khan of The Associated Press.

Front Section, Pages 6 on 10/29/2007

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