Taliban Steps Up Campaign

Just outside Afghanistan's second largest city Monday, hundreds of Taliban fighters invaded villages, forcing NATO and Afghan troops to rush in while frightened residents fled. On the outskirts of Kandahar, the Taliban assault is the latest display of prowess by the militants, despite a record number of U.S. and NATO troops in the country. The push into the Arghandab district, a lush region filled with grape and pomegranate groves that the Soviet army could never conquer, comes three days after a Taliban attack on Kandahar's prison that freed 400 insurgent fighters. NATO conceded Monday, that those fighters appear to be massing on the doorstep of the Taliban's former power base. The city of Kandahar lies only 10 miles to the southeast. The sophisticated and successful jailbreak, followed by the movement into Arghandab, is the latest evidence of the Taliban's growing strength. NATO and the U.S. have pleaded for more troops in the last year and now have 65,000 in the country. But the militants are still finding successes the international alliance can't counter.