FORWARD OPERATING BASE DIABLO, Afghanistan (AP) - The top NATO general in Afghanistan said Friday the alliance's latest offensive is the first of a "rolling series" of operations against Taliban insurgents, some of whom have been fleeing western forces in the south. U.S. Gen. Dan McNeill, commander of the 36,000-strong NATO-led force in Afghanistan, said western troops were exchanging fire with Taliban fighters "in a number of areas" in southern Afghanistan but that many militants were fleeing the 5,500 NATO and Afghan soldiers participating in Operation Achilles."We're working hard to get a beat on them, where they're going, because we're not going to let up," McNeill said during a one-hour visit to this isolated U.S. outpost in the northwest corner of Kandahar province. "I expect we'll have a rolling series of exercises just like this one, operations that run through the spring and summer. I expect for us to continue attacking these insurgents."
| Hardest part of the operation will be to get the Talibunnies to stand still long enough so that we can kill them. |