Pentagon sees Taliban on defensive in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Western forces in Afghanistan have the Taliban on the defensive after a series of spring battles that have also been blamed for a rising civilian death toll, a senior U.S. military officer said on Wednesday.

"We think that we have got the Taliban on their heels," said Brig. Gen. Perry Wiggins, deputy director for regional operations in the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a group which brings together the chiefs of all the branches of the U.S. military.

Wiggins told a news briefing at the Pentagon that several senior Taliban leaders had been killed in clashes which had forced the militant group to further pursue smaller scale "asymmetric" attacks such as suicide bombings.

"Although it has not crippled them, it'll set them back for a period of time," Wiggins said.

"We feel as though we've seized the initiative from the Taliban. But this summer will tell," he added.

The Taliban could try to regain the offensive as fighters join its ranks after working to harvest this year's crop of heroin-producing poppies. "The poppy harvest is over, so we expect at some point in time that those who were involved with that will now fight," Wiggins said.

Fighting in Afghanistan has picked up since the winter, with Taliban suicide bombers striking several times a week and NATO and the U.S.-led coalition reporting clashes nearly every day.

Among militant leaders killed in this month's fighting was Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah, the main architect of suicide bombings, kidnappings, beheadings and other violence in southern Afghanistan.

Up to 380 civilians have also been killed in the first four months of 2007, according to U.N. officials who have called on Western military forces and the Taliban to respect laws protecting civilians.

Mounting civilian casualties have put NATO and U.S.-led forces under pressure in the nearly 6-year-old war against the Taliban, who were ousted from government in the wake of the September 11 attacks for harboring al Qaeda.

Western officials have expressed concern that civilian casualties could damage relations with ordinary Afghans.

But Wiggins said the fighting may be turning Afghan public opinion against the militants.

"They have averted to asymmetric type, small-scale, high profile attacks," he said.

"We've actually had initial indications that some Afghan leaders, as well as some Afghan citizens, have actually turned against the Taliban with regard to this type of attacks."