US general: New offensive under way in Afghanistan

[October 19, 2011]  KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- The top NATO commander in Afghanistan says the international coalition has unleashed a new offensive against one of the country's most lethal militant networks and will ramp up operations next year along the Pakistan border to better secure the Afghan capital before the U.S. drawdown gathers steam.

In an interview Wednesday with The Associated Press, Marine Gen. John Allen said the "high-intensity" operation is focused on the Haqqani group, a militant network affiliated with the Taliban and al-Qaida.

Allen also says the transfer of security to Afghan forces is going to move faster than initially planned.

And he says roughly one-third of the 10,000 U.S. troops President Barack Obama ordered withdrawn from Afghanistan this year will come from combat units.

[Associated Press; By DEB RIECHMANN]

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