Fifteen Taliban and a young girl were reported killed on Wednesday in clashes in Afghanistan as US defence officials said NATO needed more soldiers and equipment to fight the insurgents.Twelve militants were killed in the southern province of Zabul in fighting on Tuesday to which the Afghan army called in foreign warplanes, the armyÂ’s southern commander, Rahmatullah Raufi, said. Four more were arrested. Another battle erupted in the province overnight when Taliban attacked a police post nearby, the Mizan district chief said. The fighting lasted two hours and three Taliban were killed and five wounded, Mohammad Younus said. A rocket-propelled grenade landed on a civilian house during the battle, killing a girl aged about seven, he added. A Taliban spokesman, Yousuf Ahmadi, confirmed both clashes but not the death tolls.
Senior US defence officials said that Defence Secretary Robert Gates would press European allies for more troops and equipment for Afghanistan at a two-day NATO meeting in Brussels starting on Thursday. “There certainly is a need for more combat forces,” one official said. “There is also a need for more enablers. Helicopters is one of them. Equipment is another.”
Meanwhile, a foreign soldier went missing on Wednesday and the Taliban said it had kidnapped him. US military spokesman Major Chris Belcher said the soldier belonged to the US-led coalition forces and was missing in an area of the Helmand province. He said he had no further details. Speaking from
Earlier on Wednesday, a United Arab Emirates government official said a member of a team providing security for a UAE aid mission had gone missing in Afghanistan. “We can confirm that a UAE citizen who is involved in providing security for UAE humanitarian aid in Afghanistan is currently unaccounted for,” the official said in Dubai.