Elsewhere Thursday, Taliban fighters ambushed a supply convoy in southern Kandahar city, wounding three civilian drivers in a hail of automatic weapon fire. The militants set three trucks ablaze before fleeing, driver Gul Janan said from his hospital bed.
The nearly 150,000 international troops and 220,000 Afghan government security forces — whose recruitment and training has been put on a fast track — are still struggling to gain the upper hand against an estimated 30,000 insurgents.
Ten insurgents were killed in a clash with NATO and Afghan forces Wednesday in southern Helmand province's Sangin district, a statement Thursday from the governor's office said. Two other militants died when a roadside bomb they were planting detonated, it said.
In New York on Wednesday, the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to extend U.N. authorization for the NATO-led force in Afghanistan for a year.
The Taliban condemned the extension Thursday. The Security Council "should not contribute to the prolongation of war in Afghanistan by passing such decisions, but should work for ending the war and occupation in the country," a statement said.
"The resolutions and decisions of the Security Council are the main cause behind the current nine-year long tragedy and the flames of war in Afghanistan," the Taliban said.
Meanwhile, a senior NATO official speaking in Brussels said U.S. and NATO forces are helping top Taliban leaders sit down for talks with the Afghan government as a step toward political reconciliation.
The official said some discussions between the government and insurgents have taken place in the capital, Kabul, where Taliban leaders would not dare to travel without NATO approval.
The account was the most detailed yet of the U.S. and NATO role in clandestine talks that officials say have been happening for several weeks.
The official spoke Wednesday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to describe the subject publicly.
