| | Afghan forces retake district briefly held by Taliban AFP
02/20/0200
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KABUL - Afghan and international troops retook a district capital in southwestern Afghanistan early on Tuesday, easily pushing out Taliban rebels who held the town for around 24 hours, according to the government.
The town of Bakwa in the western province of Farah was under government control and security reinforcements were there, the interior ministry said.
"We occupied Bakwa this morning at 5:30 am (0100 GMT) and the Taliban were pushed back," spokesman Zemarai Bashary told AFP. The rebels had heard the security forces were arriving and had moved out, he said.
"Currently security has been brought back to the district. The district headquarters is okay, it is not destroyed," Bashary said.
About 300 Taliban stormed the town Monday, forcing out a weak police force that fled the area, provincial officials said.
Taliban insurgents last year captured a handful of districts in this manner but were pushed out by international forces backing the fragile Afghan government.
However, they have been holding the southern town of Musa Qala -- about 150 kilometres (93 miles) east of Bakwa -- for more than two weeks. The authorities say they are waiting for the right time to retake the area.
Citing security reasons, Bashary would not say how many security forces were involved in the early morning operation in Bakwa -- capital of a district of the same name -- or how many were in the town.
He said that the Taliban group that arrived Monday was around three times larger than the police force that had been there and numbered around 40.
Afghanistan's government is unable to establish a presence and maintain authority in vast swathes of the volatile country.
The police force is particularly stretched at 60,000 policemen for roughly 29 million people.
A priority for Afghanistan's internationally-backed efforts to find stability after three decades of fighting is to train up and boost the police.
The country is also putting in place a 11,200-strong "auxiliary police force" of men who are given guns and badges after 80 hours' training.
Asked about the weak resistance Taliban encountered in remote towns, Bashary said: "We are trying to reinforce these districts, especially the southern districts. We are trying to send auxiliary police as soon as possible."
"We have the power to reoccupy every place of country that is attacked by the enemy. But we are waiting in Musa Qala. As soon as we find a proper and good time, we will occupy the district."
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) has killed two of the commanders of the Musa Qala takeover in precision strikes but this has failed to dislodge the rebels.
The capture of the town, in the province of Helmand, is significant because the government asked British ISAF there to keep out of the area on the request of tribal elders who believed they could also keep the Taliban out.
The extremist religious Taliban movement is trying to claw its way back into power with an insurgency launched months after it was removed from government in 2001 in a US-led invasion.
The insurgency was at its deadliest last year with more than 4,000 people killed, most of them rebels, and 2007 is expected to be just as intense.
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