Taliban flee Nato forces

The top general in Afghanistan said today that Nato’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.

US Gen. Dan McNeill, commander of the 36,000-strong Nato-led force here, 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.