Taliban Forces Seize Eight Villages in Afghanistan, Threaten March on Kandahar

Taliban fighters have taken control of eight villages in Arghandab district in Afghanistan, and have said they plan to march towards Kandahar city.

About 500 fighters are said to be involved in the ongoing Taliban offensive, which got under way on Monday, Al Jazeera has learnt. Arghandab district lies 30km north of Kandahar city.

Soldiers from the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders laboured over the weekend to construct strongpoints and check posts in an area of southern Afghanistan newly liberated from Taliban control.

South of the town of Garmser, where the desert horizon is an undulating blur of heat haze, British forces had faced the Taliban in a largely static war for two years. But in a month of fighting, with more than 100 separate engagements, the Taliban have been successfully pushed back after suffering about 200 dead.

The offensive involved around 2,300 American Marines and 200 men from 5th Bn, Royal Regiment of Scotland (The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders). These gains cost only one American life with another dozen injured.

BRITAIN is to send more troops to Afghanistan boosting the strength to the "highest level", Prime Minister Gordon Brown said today after talks with US President George W Bush.

The announcement comes as the bodies of five British soldiers were being repatriated from Afghanistan, including the 100th to die there since US-led operations began in late 2001.

The new deployment, welcomed by Mr Bush, is expected to take British troop levels to around 8000 in Afghanistan, where they have been involved in fierce fighting with Taliban militia.