In the Afghan province of Helmand killed a leader of the Taliban "

NATO troops killed one of the major warlords Taliban, said Sunday in command of the North Atlantic Alliance. Mullah Assad, who is regarded as one of the senior leaders of Taliban fighters in southern Afghan province of Helmand, was killed in a special operation held on 19 November 2008.

Other details of the operation, as well as the reasons for the delay reports of the death of field commander, NATO command has not led to convey Associated Press.

At the same time, command the alliance pledged to intensify the fight against militants. Troops ordered to take action to neutralize militant Taliban during the winter period.

While NATO soldiers are fighting with the militants, Afghan authorities are trying to negotiate with the Taliban, hoping to stop the violence in the country by diplomatic means. In September 2008, members of the Taliban under the mediation of Saudi Arabia held the first in several years, meeting with representatives of the authorities of Pakistan and Afghanistan, but it has not yielded visible results.

However, Afghan authorities do not intend to abandon this idea: In November, President Hamid Karzai has even said that it is ready to provide security assurances to the leader of the radical Taliban, Mullah Omar, if he agrees to begin peace talks with Kabul. In doing so, Karzai announced that ready to make this move at the cost of their own political situation.

Earlier, representatives of the Taliban stated that the main condition for starting the negotiating process is the withdrawal from Afghanistan of foreign troops in the country since 2001.