NATO says to clear Taliban from Kandahar areas by year end: "Coalition troops hope to root out the Taliban insurgency from districts around the key southern Afghan city of Kandahar by the end of November, the NATO commander in southern Afghanistan said Tuesday.
Between 15,000 and 17,000 Afghan forces and 15,000 international troops will be involved in a mission to crush an estimated 500 to 800 insurgents in Arghandab, Zhari and Panjwaii, said British Major General Nick Carter.
'There is still an insurgency (outside Kandahar) that is resilient and needs to be dealt with,' Carter told NATO reporters in Brussels in a video news conference from Kandahar.
'Our expectation is that by mid to the end of November that we would have rid this area pretty much of the Taliban,' he said."
