37 Dead In Afghanistan Clashes
November 09, 2006
Afghan soldiers conduct military exercises near Kabul in early November (epa)
Ghulam Rasoul Aka, a district police chief in Kandahar Province, says 28 Taliban fighters were killed in his area on November 8 and November 9, most of them by NATO air strikes.
The other deaths were the result of clashes in the provinces of Zabul and Khost.
In related news, a senior U.S. official said in Kabul on November 9 that Taliban militants are putting up tougher-than-expected resistance to the expansion of the Afghan central government into provincial areas.
Richard Boucher, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Central and South Asian affairs, says Taliban fighters are being bolstered by drug money and their ability to shelter in Pakistan.
(Reuters, AFP, AP, dpa)