Joao Silva for The New York Times An American soldier looked out Tuesday from a guard post in Arghandab, Afghanistan, a strategic district in Kandahar Province north of the city of Kandahar.

“ARGHANDAB, Afghanistan — American and Afghan forces have been routing the Taliban in much of Kandahar Province in recent weeks, forcing many hardened fighters, faced with the buildup of American forces, to flee strongholds they have held for years, NATO commanders, local Afghan officials and residents of the region said.

Some of the gains seem to have come from a new mobile rocket that has pinpoint accuracy — like a small cruise missile — and has been used against the hideouts of insurgent commanders around Kandahar. That has forced many of them to retreat across the border into Pakistan.

Disruption of their supply lines has made it harder for them to stage retaliatory strikes or suicide bombings, at least for the moment, officials and residents said.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/21/world/asia/21kandahar.html?_r=1