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Kabul (AFP) Jan 11, 2011 A major coalition military operation in a volatile southern Afghan province has caused about 100 million dollars worth of damage to property, a government delegation said Tuesday. President Hamid Karzai dispatched the delegation, led by one of his advisers, to assess damage caused by Operation Omaid, which started in April and aims to root out the Taliban in Kandahar, a traditional heartland areas. The delegation then reported to the Western-backed leader, charging that the damage caused by the military offensive was worth over 100 million dollars, in part due to damage to crops, Karzai's office said in a statement. International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) spokesman Brigadier-General Josef Blotz said he could not comment as he had not yet seen the statement. "As a result of military operation 'Omaid', significant property damage has been caused to the people in Arghandab, Zahri and Panjwayi districts in Kandahar province," the delegation's statement said. "The operation was launched during harvest season and the damage caused to property and crops has cost more than 100 million dollars," it added the delegation had told Karzai. Kandahar's economy is heavily reliant on agriculture and the province is known for its pomegranates, grapes and wheat. "The military forces have destroyed lots of houses and orchards for unknown reasons, leading to the displacement of lots of people," the statement said, citing what the delegation told Karzai. "Besides destroying lots of houses, numerous fruit trees... lots of grape-drying houses and orchard walls have also been destroyed," it added. Zalmai Ayoubi, a Kandahar provincial spokesman, told AFP that militants had planted improvised bombs in abandoned homes and orchards, leaving the soldiers no other option but to destroy them. "It wasn't possible to defuse the bombs so the soldiers had to blow them up where they were planted," Ayoubi said, adding foreign forces had told local officials that villagers would be compensated once an assessment had been carried out. The delegation's statement added that they had urged Karzai "to urgently raise the issue with NATO forces and find a solution". Operation Omaid -- Dari for "hope" -- is the biggest military offensive by the NATO-led international force since the start of the war in 2001. It centres on Kandahar, a flashpoint of the Taliban insurgency, and aims to drive the militant Islamists out of villages ahead of the planned start of conditions-based withdrawals of international troops in July. The statement, citing the delegation, said the offensive had "improved security in Kandahar" where the Taliban originated before sweeping to power in the rest of the country in the 1990s.
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