'We've Sealed Off the Area. The Enemy Can't Leave'

So says Aminullah Patyali, an Afghan army general.

Let's hope he's right.

NATO helicopters dropped leaflets on two Afghan villages asking residents to leave ahead of an operation to drive out hundreds of Taliban rebels, residents and officials said on Tuesday.

Around 500 Islamist rebels massed in the villages outside Kandahar late Monday following a brazen insurgent attack at the weekend that busted more than 1,000 prisoners out of the southern city's main jail.

"Hundreds of Afghan soldiers have been deployed in the region to clear the insurgents from the area," defence ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi told AFP.

Residents leaving the area said that the NATO-led International Assistance Force (ISAF) had dropped leaflets on the two villages in insurgency-hit Arghandab district warning them to move to safer places.

"Last evening NATO choppers dropped leaflets on our village, asking us to leave the village before they launch an operation," Abdul Mohammad, a resident of Ta-been village told AFP while on his way to Kandahar city.

Sounds like some major ass-kicking is heading the Taliban way.

It seems there's a disconnect here, as much of the media hype today revolves around the Taliban supposedly flexing their muscles.

THE Taliban destroyed bridges and planted mines in villages outside Kandahar, the biggest city in southern Afghanistan, residents and officials said yesterday, after hundreds of fighters swarmed into the strategically important district in an apparent push for control and preparation for battle.

More than 700 families had fled the Arghandab district 15 kilometres north-west of Kandahar, said Sardar Mohammad, a police officer at a checkpoint on the Arghandab River. "Last night the people were afraid, and families on tractors, trucks and taxis fled the area. Small bridges inside the villages have been destroyed," he said.
...
Kandahar is still reeling from Friday's brazen attack by the Taliban on its prison, in which they released about 1200 inmates. At least 400 of them were members of the Taliban, including some district commanders.

A Taliban commander, Mullah Ahmedullah, told the Associated Press yesterday that some of the militants released in Friday's prison break had joined the assault. "They told us 'we want to fight until the death'," Mullah Ahmedullah said. "We've occupied most of the area [around Kandahar] and it's a good place for fighting. Now we are waiting for the NATO and Afghan forces."

Afghan officials said Taliban fighters had declared they planned to march on Kandahar from Arghandab. "The Taliban are getting stronger and stronger, and after they attacked the prison, that gave them higher morale," Mr Wali said.

Clear out the citizenry and come in with superior air power.