US flies Afghan troops to recapture district

American helicopters flew Afghan troops into a remote mountain area north of Kabul on Tuesday in an operation to recapture a district overrun last week by the Taliban, military officials said.

The forces secured the district center in Barg-e-Matal (Barge-eh-mah-TAL) without firing a shot, NATO said in a statement, indicating that the Taliban may have withdrawn ahead of the assault. No one was harmed so far during the operation, which was expected to last a few days.

Government forces pulled out of Barg-e-Matal, in Nuristan province, last weekend after hundreds of Taliban fighters swept into the area from nearby Pakistan. U.S. aircraft softened up Taliban defenses with airstrikes Monday ahead of the pre-dawn assault Tuesday.

U.S. officers say more than 200 Afghan troops and a small U.S. advisory team will link up with Afghan forces still in the area.

Taliban strength has grown in Nuristan since U.S. troops abandoned an outpost where eight American soldiers were killed in a fierce attack last October.

"This successful operation by Afghan forces will return governance to Barg-e Matal," Interior Ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said in a statement Tuesday. "This operation shows the improved planning and operational capabilities of our joint forces in response to serious incidents even in the most remote locations of Afghanistan."

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The NATO airstrikes targeted a cave complex in the Nuristan area that Taliban leaders used as a command center, U.S. officers familiar with the operation told The Associated Press, on condition of anonymity because the information was sensitive.

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The airlift inserted about 200 Afghan troops who will join up with 400 Afghan security forces that withdrew from the district center and are still in the region. A small contingent of U.S. advisers also will be on the ground, the officers said.

Taliban fighters in the district are thought to number about 500, with a majority of them Afghan but also Pakistanis and a few Arabs, the officers said.

Up to 1,500 civilians living in and around the main town had fled or been evacuated before the operation started.