Taliban fighters are routinely described as insurgents in NATO statement. Pro NATO Media refers to them also as insurgents, militants, extremists, and terrorists - a media tactic known as dehumanization of the enemy.

The Daily Times story is more smearing of Taliban than other stories, as it describes them as terrorists, and describes them as fighting for drugs. There's no way to verify the 63 death figure in this story.

Afghan, NATO troops kill 63 Taliban

The Daily Times, Pakistan, Monday, July 05, 2010

KABUL:

Afghan authorities said on Sunday that they killed more than 60 Taliban (fighters) in raids against them and their drug-trafficking backers in a restive part of southern Afghanistan. More than 16 tonnes of drugs — mostly opium — were also seized in Bahramcha district of Helmand province, centre of a Taliban-led insurgency and Afghanistan’s biggest poppy-growing region, the interior ministry said.

“Sixty-three terrorists were killed,” the ministry said in a statement, referring to Taliban-linked insurgents. “The operation was successfully completed today (Sunday),” the statement said. Two factories for converting opium into heroin were destroyed and “a large number” of weapons and ammunition were also seized in the raids, which began on Friday by Afghan counter narcotics commandos supported by NATO troops, it added.

The commandos also freed 10 villagers captured by the Taliban for allegedly working with the government while arresting 10 Taliban and drugs traffickers, the statement said.d. War-ravaged Afghanistan is the world’s largest heroin producer, with annual exports worth $3 billion dollars helping fuel the Taliban insurgency. afp

3 US-led troops killed in Afghanistan

Press TV, Mon, 05 Jul 2010 14:01:29 GMT

Three more US-led soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan amid a surge in militant attacks against the foreign forces stationed in the war-torn country.

NATO said the soldiers died during combat operations in southern and eastern Afghanistan. The nationalities of the troopers are not known.

At least 329 foreign soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan so far this year. Over half of the fatalities are American.

NATO soldier killed on patrol in Afghanistan

Mon Jul 5, 2010, 3:26 am ET

KABUL (AFP) –

A NATO soldier has been killed on combat patrol in southern Afghanistan, where a nearly nine-year war against an insurgent Taliban is at its fiercest, the military said Monday.

The soldier was killed on Sunday, American Independence Day, NATO's ISAFs said.

The death brings to 329 the number of foreign soldiers to have died in the war so far this year, according to an AFP tally based on that kept by the independent icasualties.org website.

The soldier died as US General David Petraeus took command of the 140,000 NATO and US troops in Afghanistan, replacing US General Stanley McChrystal who was sacked for criticising top US officials in a magazine.

Another 10,000 foreign troops are due to deploy to Afghanistan by August as part of a plan to intensify pressure on the insurgents, mainly in the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar, and speed an end to the war.

In Zabul, the province neighbouring Kandahar, a roadside bomb killed six civilians overnight, the interior ministry said Monday.

Afghan-ISAF Operations in Eastern, Southern Afghanistan

7/5/10 | ISAF Public Affairs Office

ISAF Joint Command - Afghanistan 2010-07-CA-022

 KABUL, Afghanistan (July 5, 2010) -

 An Afghan-international security force detained two suspected insurgents in Logar Province last night while pursuing a Taliban commander suspected to be involved in a mortar attack on an ISAF forward operating base yesterday. The combined security force went to a compound north of the village of Aladad Kheyl, Baraki Barak district, after Afghan forces used a loudspeaker to call for the occupants to exit the buildings. Two individuals attempted to escape the compound but were caught and detained by the security force. The security force also found and destroyed a significant amount of improvised explosive device (IED) material including home-made explosives, pressure plates and command detonation wires. They also found pictures and a video labeled "jihad." No shots were fired, and women and children were protected by the combined security force.

 ISAF and Afghan officials have confirmed that an Afghan and international security force captured a Taliban commander responsible for several IED attacks, ambushes, and kidnapping operations throughout the Aynak area. The commander, suspected of facilitating weapons and suicide bombers for the Taliban, was captured along with a number of suspected insurgents by a combined security force in a compound outside Lashkar Gah, Helmand Province yesterday. This report is an update to a report in yesterday's IJC Operational Update.

 An Afghan-led security force detained a number of suspected Taliban fighters and destroyed two IEDs on a foot-path frequented by local villagers during a recent two-day operation aimed at disrupting the enemy in what was historically a Taliban safe haven used to stage attacks into Kandahar City. The majority of the forces participating in the operation were Afghan National Security Force (ANSF) soldiers, who led the clearance of several compounds on the outskirts of Talukan village in the Zharay district. Since May, security forces have conducted several clearing operations within Kandahar province and captured a large number of suspected insurgents, including multiple Taliban leaders. In June, insurgents engaged a combined Afghan-international force several times during a three-day clearing operation in neighboring Panjwa'i district. The security force responded killing and capturing a large number insurgents. During the operation the security force discovered and destroyed a house-borne IED, an IED-making facility with IED materials, including jugs of home-made explosives, 230 kilograms of opium, automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenade launchers with rounds. Taliban fighters are believed to be posturing to disrupt improved security initiatives by the ANSF and international forces.

 In another update to a story in yesterday's IJC Operational Update, it has been confirmed that an Afghan-international security force captured a Haqqani weapons facilitator along with two suspected insurgents in Khost Province yesterday. The Haqqani facilitator also led IED attacks against coalition forces, and was captured in a compound east of Bazar, Khost. The Haqqani Network is attempting to establish strongholds within the Khost-Gardez pass, which runs through the Hindu Kush Mountains of Paktiya and Khost Provinces. It is a favored place for insurgent groups to move supplies and foreign fighters from Pakistan into Afghanistan.