MAIDAN CITY (PAN): Taliban and security forces issued contradicting claims about casualties about Monday's clash in Syedabad district.

GHAZNI CITY (PAN): Taliban insurgents Monday claimed seizing a volatile district in the southern Ghazni province, but a local official insisted the fighters had been ousted from the town they briefly held.

When U.S. or NATO soldiers need to communicate with Afghan villagers, they rely on translators provided by private contractors. But for various reasons -- regional dialects, cultural misunderstandings, or even ethnic animosities -- translators in Afghanistan often don't relate everything

Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith said the secret five-day operation, which he compared to major missions in World War II for its logistical and engineering complexity, had shown the Taliban could be outwitted and did not have popular support.

The US finding contradicts UN and Afghan government investigations that concluded more than 90 civilians were killed in the 22 August operation.

Almost three thousand British troops in southern Afghanistan have successfully transported a huge hydroelectric power turbine through Taleban territory.