US launches offensive; soldier captured (3rd Roundup)

Kabul - The US military launched a major offensive against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan on Thursday as it was confirmed that an American soldier had been captured by militants in the eastern part of the country. The offensive in Helmand province marked the beginning of US President Barack Obama's new strategy in Afghanistan designed to intensify the fight against the resurgent Taliban by going after its strongholds. Since taking office, Obama has identified the conflict in Afghanistan as the largest national security threat facing the United States. About 4,000 US Marines and 650 Afghan soldiers were taking part in Operation Khanjar, a US military spokesman said. The Taliban controls large swaths of the province. Meanwhile, the US military confirmed the Taliban appears to have captured an American soldier who went missing Tuesday in the eastern Afghan province of Paktika. 'We are now exhausting all available resources to find him,' Lieutenant Commander William Speaks, a spokesman for US Central Command in Tampa, Florida, said. A US defence official said the soldier was the first captured since military operations began in Afghanistan in 2001. Mullah Sangin, a local Taliban commander, said three Afghan troops were taken in addition to the American. The soldier was roaming outside his base in the Yousufkhel district with the three Afghans and was drunk, Sangin claimed. The soldiers were disarmed without resistance and taken away on motorbikes, he said. The Helmand offensive is one of the largest by US forces in Afghanistan in years and was marked by the size and speed of the deployment. It's the first under the new US commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, an experienced special operations officer who replaced General David McKiernan mid-June. The decision to replace McKiernan was a sign of frustration with the slow pace of progress in Afghanistan. The US and Afghan militaries made no comment about casualties in the offensive, but Taliban spokesman Kari Jussif Ahmadi said the militants had killed 'more than a dozen' foreign troops and suffered no casualties themselves. The Taliban's casualty reports, however, are widely considered to be exaggerated. Ahmadi also claimed that 'the foreign troops bombed civilian sites instead of hideouts of the Taliban.' The Islamist fighters had taken cover in secure sites, he said. Daud Ahmadi, a spokesman for Helmand's governor, said plans were in place for reconstruction following military operations. The US military said it intends to drive the Taliban out of Helmand, restore the influence of the national government and stabilize the region ahead of the August 20 presidential election. US soldiers are attempting to set up a series of bases to hold the ground in Helmand once it's taken from the Taliban. Helmand has been one of Afghanistan bloodiest areas, and the goal is to create long- term stability there, Brigadier General Larry Nicholson said. Two British soldiers in Helmand were killed ahead of the offensive during fighting Wednesday in Lashkar Gah, the Defence Ministry in London said Thursday. Six other NATO soldiers were wounded, the ministry said. The deaths took the British toll in Afghanistan since the start of operations there in October 2001, to 171. Pakistan's military said it had deployed troops on its side of the border to stop any Taliban fighters from fleeing. 'It's a reorganization of our troops deployed along the Afghan border,' said an Army spokesman, Major General Athar Abbas. 'Our soldiers will guard the mountain treks the Taliban can use to infiltrate Balochistan province' in south-western Pakistan. The United States has reportedly deployed about 8,500 Marines to Helmand in the past two months. As part of Obama's new strategy, the US contingent in Afghanistan would be strengthened by an extra 21,000 soldiers and there would be a new emphasis on civil and economic aid. Obama is prioritizing the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan and in neighbouring Pakistan as he shifts the focus away from Iraq. US troops withdrew from Iraqi cities and towns Tuesday as part of an agreement with Baghdad. As the security situation in Iraq has improved greatly in the last two years, the environment in Afghanistan has sharply deteriorated. Militants carried out more than 400 attacks in the first week of June, said General David Petraeus, the chief of Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East and Central Asia. Violence has been at its highest level since the US-led coalition toppled the Taliban regime in 2001.