Troops kill 30 Taliban as Rumsfeld visits Kabul
The early morning air strike in southern Helmand province was targeted at a Taliban commander and associates who had "actively planned and carried out attacks on Afghan and coalition forces", a coalition spokeswoman told AFP.
It "resulted in the estimated death of at least 30 Taliban fighters," Captain Julie Roberge told AFP. It was not immediately clear if that included the commander.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. The strike was part of Operation Mountain Thrust, the biggest campaign against the Taliban movement since it launched an insurgency after being driven from government by a US-led coalition in late 2001.
Rumsfeld said after talks with President Hamid Karzai in the capital that the United States was firm in its commitment to helping defeat the Taliban but that Afghanistan also needed more international help.
There was "no question" Taliban fighters and their al-Qaeda allies were involved in cross-border activity, he said, and Afghanistan's neighbours needed to cooperate more on this.
Afghan officials have long accused Pakistan in particular of not doing enough against Taliban and other militants they say are supporting and training fighters on the Pakistani side of the border.
Rumsfeld said Europe could also do more to stem Afghanistan's massive trade in illegal opium, which he said was fuelling the Taliban insurgency.
Afghanistan produces nearly 90 percent of the world's illegal opium, which makes up most of the opium and heroin on the streets of Europe and threatens to turn the country into a "narco state".
About a quarter of Afghanistan's annual crop of roughly 4,000 tonnes of opium is grown in Helmand, the province where the coalition said an air strike struck the Taliban hideout.
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