'Success against Taliban exaggerated'

The success of one of Nato's principal tactics against the Taliban - targeted night raids aimed at killing or capturing leaders of the insurgency - may have been exaggerated to make the military campaign in Afghanistan look more effective, according to a report published on Wednesday.

The success of one of Nato's principal tactics against the Taliban - targeted night raids aimed at killing or capturing leaders of the insurgency - may have been exaggerated to make the military campaign in Afghanistan look more effective, according to a report published on Wednesday.

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The study shows that for every "leader" killed in the raids, eight other people also died, although the raids were designed to decapitate the Taliban by removing their commanders.

The report notes that in briefings to the US media, aggregate claims made for the number of Taliban leaders killed or detained over a given period were sometimes much greater than the numbers recorded in the daily press releases.