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WASHINGTON (AP) - A Dutch general who until recently was NATO commander in southern Afghanistan said Tuesday the Taliban militia remain dangerous in some pockets of the country but now lack the strength to mount a major offensive.
Maj. Gen. Ton van Loon said a much-anticipated Taliban offensive has not developed in the south and the numerical strength of the hardline Islamic militia, which were forced from control of the country in a U.S.-led war in 2001, was overstated.
"My experience is you always take a zero off," van Loon said at a news conference at the Atlantic Council of the United States, a nonprofit group of supporters of NATO, the trans-Atlantic alliance that plays a leading role in trying to revive Afghanistan and stamp out radical groups.
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