Headline for October 31st: Afghans and NATO kill 50 Taliban and surround 200.
From today's (November 1st) story, Taliban 'Arghandab' offensive halted: Canada:
"Other Afghan sources tell us that most of the Taliban fighters slipped out of the area overnight, which often happens under the cover of darkness."
But wait, I'm getting a sense of deja-vu here. There was operation Baaz Tsuka in December 2006:
HOWZ-E MADAD, Afghanistan - There is no place to hide, and nowhere to run for the 700 to 900 Taliban insurgents now squeezed into a box near here by NATO forces.
...which fizzled out when the surrounded Taliban fighters "moved elsewhere".
And there was Operation Medusa, in which NATO claimed to have another 700 fighters surrounded and then, when they slipped out the back way, claimed to have them "psychologically surrounded".
What an utterly pointless exercise.
