Afghan and Nato troops say they’ve driven Taliban fighters from villages within striking distance of Kandahar City after a 24-hour raid in Arghandab.
The Nato-led operation was launched after the Taliban blasted open Kandahar’s main jail, freeing more than a thousand prisoners.
It was an attack which embarrassed the Afghan government, and prompted Hamid Karzai, the president, to threaten to send his troops into Pakistan to take out Taliban leaders.
His comments caused outrage across the border, but as Dan Nolan found, many inside Afghanistan are welcoming the plan.
