NATO, Afghan Army poised for joint assault against Taliban

KABUL: NATO and the Afghan Army are poised for a joint assault against the Taliban in the sensitive Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, waiting only for the outcome of negotiations that are underway.

"In the meantime, infiltration continues in fairly substantial numbers along the border (with Pakistan)," Tom Collins, spokesperson of the International Security Assistance Force, of which NATO is a part, said on Wednesday.

Even as there is renewed talk in the country and in NATO circles of the Taliban's projected spring offensive, Collins was briefing the media on the future plans to evict the Taliban from the Helmand province in southern Afghanistan that borders Pakistan.

The province is Afghanistan's poppy capital and has traditionally been a Taliban stronghold on account of weak or non-existing state institutions.

It was in the small town of Musa Qala in this province last October that the deployed British forces entered into a controversial peace deal with the Taliban after weeks of fierce fighting.

Under the pact, the ISAF forces and the Taliban were to vacate Musa Qala, leaving the local administration in the hands of community elders.

On February one, however, the extremists stormed into the town without firing a shot and took charge after the ISAF killed a Taliban group in the countryside around the town.