Starting the Roundup

In the wake of this week's brazen Taliban prison break, releasing hundreds of Taliban thugs and hundreds of other prisoners, the Afghan and coalition forces have to redouble efforts to go after those they had already captured at least once. It may be a while before all are accounted for, but there will be no extended stay in prison for some:

Afghan and coalition forces killed more than 15 insurgents and captured five while searching for militants who escaped in a daring jail-break last week, the U.S. military said Sunday.

Militants used explosive-laden trucks to destroy the walls of the Afghan prison.

Officials have not yet confirmed whether the insurgents who were killed or captured in the Saturday raid in Kandahar province were part of the nearly 400 Taliban militants who escaped from a Kandahar prison on Friday.

A U.S. military statement said the insurgents, who were holed up in a farming compound west of Rawonay, fired at troops who then retaliated with an air strike.

Authorities continued to search for the escaped prisoners Sunday. Afghan security forces have said looking for them will be tough in some areas, if not impossible in others. The Taliban is entrenched in the region, which is replete with militants' hideouts. The militants may have gone to two regions of Kandahar province with a large Taliban presence -- Maiwand and Zherai districts.

Afghan Leader Hamid Karzai warns that he will send Afghan forces into Pakistan to go after the Taliban thugs who have been causing Afghanistan so many problems.

He said that when militants crossed over from Pakistan to kill Afghans and coalition troops, his nation had the right to retaliate in "self-defence".

Mr Karzai's remarks came two days after Taleban fighters attacked an Afghan jail, freeing hundreds of prisoners.

Pakistan denies providing a safe haven for the Taleban or other militants.

Mr Karzai has long pleaded for Pakistan and international forces to confront militants in Pakistan but has not before threatened to send troops over the border.

The Taliban and al Qaeda have long used the lawless border regions to evade capture and attacks from across the border. Pakistan's government in Islamabad has always had a hands off approach to the border provinces, so for them to claim that they aren't a safe haven is just word play. Those border provinces are a part of Pakistan whether they like it or not, even if the Pakistani government wants to treat them otherwise.