Editor's Note:

Readers need to be reminded that there is no independent verification to this report by AFP, which is a NATO country news agency. Almost systematically, every time there is a claim of Taliban deaths, we discover later that the victims were basically Afghani civilians, which triggers protests like the one reported below:

Five civilians, 13 Taliban fighters killed in Afghanistan: police

Sun Jan 25, 2009, 3:53 am ET

HERAT, Afghanistan (AFP) –

Police in remote northwestern Afghanistan killed 13 Taliban fighters in a clash triggered by the alleged killings of five civilians by the Taliban fighters, police said Sunday.

The police alleged that Taliban fighters first shot dead a tribal elder and his wife in their home in Badghis province on Saturday because the man did not agree to collect food and money for them, provincial police chief Mohammed Ayob Niazyar said.

Three more local men were killed and five wounded when residents attacked the Taliban fighters, Niazyar told AFP. Police later arrived at the scene and another battle ensued.

"Thirteen of the Taliban have been killed and seven of them were injured in a clash when police arrived at the area," he said.

The fighting took place in Muqur district, which is on the border with Turkmenistan.

Angry protests over 16 dead Afghan civilians

Sun Jan 25, 2009, 8:51 am ET

KABUL (AFP) –

About 1,000 demonstrators on Sunday shouted slogans against US troops in Afghanistan to condemn an operation which President Hamid Karzai said killed 16 civilians, including women and children.

The angry men marched in the small town of Mihtarlam, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) east of the capital Kabul, chanting "death to the Americans" and demanding an end to US-only operations, officials and witnesses told AFP.

Some of the protesters threw stones at US military vehicles, witnesses said, putting the number of demonstrators at 1,000.

The US military said Saturday that an operation against a Taliban network had taken place near Mihtarlam, killing "15 armed militants". But locals said civilians were also killed and they were investigating to find out how many.

A statement from Karzai's office Sunday said: "An air and ground operation in Garoch area on the outskirts of Mihtarlam town took place midnight Friday resulting in the death of 16 civilians including two women and three children."

It condemned the latest alleged civilian casualties in the fight against Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, saying such incidents "weaken government rule and empower the terrorists."

Karzai "once again reminds the coalition forces that bombing Afghan villages will not yield anything in the war against terror except civilian casualties," it said.

Officials say such casualties are often the result of US forces not properly coordinating their operations with their Afghan counterparts, sometimes resulting in them being led astray by poor intelligence.

There are nearly 70,000 NATO soldiers in Afghanistan, including 34,000 US troops, helping the government to fight the insurgents.

They run the air power that is regularly called in to help in operations across the rugged land, where commanders have long called for more soldiers.

There are regular allegations of civilian casualties in operations, most often air strikes, but there are conflicting statements about how many.

Biden warns of higher US death toll Afghanistan

Sun Jan 25, 2009, 11:52 am ET

WASHINGTON –AP,

Vice President Joe Biden says the nation should expect more U.S. military casualties as the Obama administration plans to send additional troops to Afghanistan.

Pentagon officials say they plan to send up to 30,000 additional troops to the Afghan war, where the Taliban resistance movement is resurgent and war attacks have been on the rise. The request for more troops from military commanders was endorsed by the Bush administration and has been favored by the Obama government, too.

Biden said Sunday that additional U.S. forces will be engaging the Taliban fighters more. Asked if that means the U.S. public should expect more American casualties, the vice president said: "I hate to say it, but yes, I think there will be. There will be an uptick."

Biden spoke on CBS' "Face the Nation."